Midweek Musings - Rebound

Penn State has concluded the two toughest portions of its schedule, namely the opening stretch which included road games at Purdue and Auburn, as well as the three-game gauntlet of Michigan-Minnesota-Ohio State, and has turned the page to the last month of the 2022 season.

Before the Lions lay many desirable and attainable goals:

• A 10-2 record, which would be the first double-digit win total since the 2019 season which ended with a Cotton Bowl victory
• A New Year’s Six game, whether it be the Orange Bowl or Cotton Bowl (Rose is almost assuredly going to the loser of Michigan-Ohio State)
• A potential top 10 ranking to end the season
• A return to national relevancy, after a combined 11-11 record in 2020 and 2021

On paper, Penn State should be favored in each of its last four games. For the record, those games are:

• at Indiana
• vs Maryland
• at Rutgers
• vs Michigan State

This isn’t to say that all of those games are cakewalks, and ESPN’s FPI gives the Lions something like a 42% chance to win out. But on a week-by-week, 1-0 by 1-0 approach, Penn State should be the favorite.

The hardest part of the 2022 season is now in the rearview mirror, and if the Lions can take care of business, they can reach all of those aforementioned goals, which had become the norm under Franklin from 2016 through 2019. All they have to do is rebound from a couple of tough losses, and get through the next four weeks at 1-0 each week.

Starting with going 1-0 at Indiana.