Penn State Football: A Way Too Early Schedule Prediction for Nittany Lions’ 2022-23 Season

It’s the time of the year to look into the future and guess how Penn State’s season will go, only to turn around in several months and feel very smart or very dumb. Penn State isn’t without a shortage of questions this year or shortages of challenges in the early stages of the year.

This program might be a year or two away from where it once was, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t wins to be had. So let’s take a guess, and then find out later if we were right or wrong.

(Win) at Purdue: The Boilermakers are a lot better as a program than they were not too long ago and nothing about starting on the road in the Big Ten – let alone the entire season – is easy. That said, whatever you like or dislike about Sean Clifford he has played a lot of football and is the steady hand Penn State can lean on in a situation like this. A second year in Mike Yurcich’s system will show its benefits early in the year. This game will have some obligatory rust but wideout transfer Mitchell Tinsley is going to introduce himself to fans right away.

(Win) Ohio: Anything is possible, and Penn State has certainly looked more beatable in some of these games against “lesser” teams, that being said there’s no reason to overthink this one assuming everyone is healthy.

(Toss-up/Loss) at Auburn: Auburn is going through a quarterback battle right now but unless Penn State has made great strides in the first two weeks, there’s no reason to simply assume the Nittany Lions are going to win on the road against a solid SEC program. Penn State can absolutely win this game, but edge goes to the home team in games like this.

(Win) Central Michigan: The only reason games like this turn into games are because of emotional losses or wins the week before. Auburn certainly sets Penn State up for either of those in this case but generally speaking the Nittany Lions have done well getting the job done against out of conference opponents outside of the Power 5. This is another “don’t overthink it.”

(Win) Northwestern: Northwestern hasn’t played in State College since 2014 and the Wildcats have actually won two of the last three meetings between these two programs. That said, Northwestern is Northwestern, and if Penn State has done anything approaching the predicted results above, then this game ought to be a Penn State win. Pat Fitzgerald has long made Northwestern a good team/tough out, but Penn State gets the home edge here, especially if its starting the season on the winning side of things. Just don’t look ahead to the off week.

(Loss) at Michigan: Penn State will be off the week prior to this game which is probably a good thing in the long run. That said, James Franklin’s somewhat lukewarm record coming off the bye week, let alone at Michigan could prove to be daunting here. That said, hitting the reset button, getting healthy and getting a little bit of work in before the bulk of the Big Ten slate isn’t the worst thing. As for the game itself, Michigan has about as many questions as Penn State this year and while the Wolverines might be defending Big Ten champions, some crucial pieces of that team are headed elsewhere. That said, take the home team – and quarterback Cade McNamara in this one unless Penn State is truly rounding into form by now. This will be one of the last big test for Sean Clifford if he wants to impress NFL scouts and in many ways a chance for James Franklin and Mike Yurcich to go toe-to-toe with Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh when it comes to quarterback development. There are a ton of layers to this game, and the series has been competitive in both directions so just pick the home team.

(Win) Minnesota: To be honest I haven’t watched a ton of Minnesota since Penn State last played the Gophers and that probably has at least a little bit to do with the fact there hasn’t been a reason to watch them since that game in 2019. PJ Fleck will have his team up for this game but it will be interesting to see what degree of revenge Penn State has in its mouth. A lot of these Nittany Lions weren’t around for 2019 but Sean Clifford and James Franklin in particular might be out for blood. Can they get it? Time will tell but there’s no reason to think Penn State losses this game, even if Minnesota is a thorn in its side.

(Loss) Ohio State: At this point you can default to Penn State losing this game from a prediction standpoint but there’s no reason to think this game won’t be as close as all the rest. Ohio State has plenty of options at quarterback but none of them will have played at Beaver Stadium and Ohio State hasn’t played in State College in front of a Penn State crowd since 2018. Penn State could have won last year in Columbus and Ohio State might have more questions than it did last year. This is as winnable a matchup as they come in this series, but until Penn State starts winning them you can’t pick the Nittany Lions. This is also the time of year when Sean Clifford is almost certainly nursing some form of injury, does that make a difference?

(Win) at Indiana: The week after an Ohio State game is always ripe for a loss, but assuming Penn State is healthy it will win this return trip to Bloomington a few years after that overtime loss. If Penn State wins it will probably be in contention if not in the outright lead in the Big Ten East, that changes the dynamics of any game the rest of the way.

(Win) Maryland: The Terps are fine and better than they get credit for but until Penn State stops grinding them into turtle soup this is still a win.

(Win) at Rutgers: Somewhat similar to Maryland. Rutgers is better than it gets credit for but also not good enough. Injuries and seasons can change the complexion of these games, but if we’re going to default to assumption the Ohio State is going to beat Penn State we can do the same for this game and the chances of a Nittany Lion victory.

(Win/Toss-up) Michigan State: It’s sort of impossible to pick games like this because it’s so far into the season that the stakes, the rosters and the seasons are just absolutely a coin-toss to judge. Penn State could be bad, it could be good and the same thing could be said for Michigan State. Go with the home team, but make room for anything in the last week of the regular season.