Tag: USC Penn State

USC hopes average Penn State passing game doesn’t improve this week

The Penn State passing game hasn’t really taken off so far this season. USC needs to make sure that doesn’t change this weekend in Los Angeles.

Our friends at Nittany Lions Wire are busy previewing the USC Penn State football game this coming Saturday. There’s plenty you will want to read at Nittany Lions Wire. One item of interest is an examination of the matchup between the Penn State offense and the USC defense. Included is a look at the Penn State passing game:

Drew Allar and the passing game is always going to dominate the conversation when it comes to the offense because people expect so much out of the former five-star recruit. And while he’s looked much better in this offensive system compared to last year, the results still leave some people wanting more. Penn State ranks 57th in the country with 244.0 passing yards per game, but the fact the Nittany Lions have largely been leading in every contest so far has to be factored in.

This will be the test that everyone is measuring Allar on since it’s a big game and USC is coming into this matchup ranked 13th with 157.6 passing yards allowed. Putting it into perspective, that is just one spot behind Penn State which should set the table about what this passing attack is up against on Saturday.

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USC football must avoid looking ahead to Penn State when it plays Minnesota

USC knows the Penn State showdown will receive a lot of attention, but getting tripped up by Minnesota would take a lot of sizzle out of that game.

Bloggers and writers and podcasters can speculate about Penn State this week. Why not? We’re all thinking about that game. Coaches and players, however, have to have tunnel vision. They have to keep their eyes focused only on the game in front of them this week. It happens all the time in college football: A good team loses to an inferior team because it is looking ahead to the next game against the elite opponent. USC has to avoid that when it goes to Minnesota to play the Golden Gophers one week before the huge showdown versus Penn State.

If Lincoln Riley should tell his players anything before the game, it is that USC has not played a complete game against a good team yet this season. Utah State is not a particularly good team. USC can’t worry about Penn State if only because USC has to worry about itself. The Trojans aren’t yet good enough to look ahead to Penn State, even if they wanted to. That should be the message heading into Minneapolis on Saturday night.

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