Penn State looks to improve to 3-0 this weekend when it heads to Illinois for a Big Ten opener in Week 3. The Nittany Lions will be the easy pick for most this weekend, although the fear is this is one of those games that Penn State slips up when they have ni business doing so to ruin any potential path to a shot at a Big Ten championship and a spot in the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history.
Penn State is favored by just over two touchdowns in this weekend’s matchup, so coming up with ways to lose feels a bit challenging this week. This is especially difficult when Penn State has looked as good all round as they have in their first two games at the same time Illinois has struggled to get past Toledo and got smoked on the road by Kansas. But you have to play the game for a reason, because the final score is determined by the sequence of events that unfold on any given Saturday and not on the betting line on paper.
So, if Penn State is going to take a massive hit in the Big Ten opener this weekend, here are five reasons why it could potentially happen.