Penn State Football: 3 reasons Nittany Lions will beat Auburn in Week 3

1. Penn State football’s secondary will feast

As mentioned previously, Auburn’s quarterbacks have not played particularly well this season. This play’s right into the strength of Penn State’s defense, its secondary.

The Nittany Lions have one of the best secondaries in the Big Ten, if not the country. Cornerback Joey Porter Jr. and safety Ji’Ayir Brown are highly rated guys who likely will be playing on Sundays next season.

In addition to Porter and Brown, the Nittany Lions have a lot of contributors on this unit. South Carolina transfer Johnny Dixon, Jalen Reed, Zakee Wheatley, and Keaton Ellis have all made some solid plays early this season.

Auburn is going to run the ball a lot with running back Tank Bigsby. Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz is going to focus his unit on shutting down Bigsby and forcing the Tigers to throw the ball. To accomplish this, do not be surprised if Penn State stacks the box with one of their safeties. The corners are talented enough to be left alone in one on one matchups against Auburn receivers.

While no one in the Penn State secondary has an interception yet, there have been a few close calls. It seems it is only a matter of time before the interceptions start happening. T.J. Finley and Robby Ashford have combined for four interceptions so far. There could be a couple more added to their totals this Saturday.