Does Auburn win prove that 2022 Penn State football is for real?

Penn State football dominated throughout its game at Auburn in Week 3 of the 2022 season, pouncing on the Tigers early to earn a 41-12 victory at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala.

For a Penn State program that has been notoriously pedestrian during the past two seasons, what does this win at Auburn signify?

First, the win proves that Penn State has a tough mentality and can win big games on the road. Auburn is clearly not the team that it used to be and has experienced some perplexing dysfunction on offense under second-year head coach Bryan Harsin that’s eerily resemblant of Gus Malzahn’s offenses, but it’s still an SEC program with future NFL talent.

Penn State wore down the Auburn defense, too, as the game progressed. The Nittany Lions scored five touchdowns on the ground against Auburn in the 41-12 win, the most rushing touchdowns that the Tigers have surrendered to an opponent since 2015 — back when a Leonard Fournette-led LSU team powered its way to a 45-21 win against Auburn at Tiger Stadium.

Auburn finished that year with a 2-6 record in SEC play, including losses to Arkansas and Mississippi State, en route to a 7-6 finish and a win against Memphis in the Birmingham Bowl.

Freshman running back Nicholas Singleton led the Nittany Lions with 124 rushing yards and two touchdowns on just 10 carries. As a team, Penn State gained 245 rushing yards behind six different players, including veteran quarterback Sean Clifford, who rushed for one score while also completing 14-of-19 passes for 178 yards.

Penn State football must trust its run game

The ground attack will be crucial for Penn State’s success this season, as the team failed to register a player in the FBS’ top 140 rushers in terms of yards per attempt during the past two seasons.

When the Nittany Lions did have a powerful rushing offense, however, the results will clearly better — the 11-2 squad in 2019 was led by Journey Brown. Brown accounted for 1,024 all-purpose yards as a junior that year and scored 13 touchdowns on nearly seven yards per carry (the country’s ninth-highest mark). The Meadville, Penn., native officially retired from football last year after doctors discovered an abnormal heart condition.

Penn State’s defense forced four turnovers in what clearly decided the game’s outcome — Auburn’s quarterbacks each threw an interception while the team lost two fumbles.

Entering the second half, Auburn trailed 14-6 and had three possessions. The Tigers would gain a total of 35 yards and end with a punt, a fumble, and then an interception to help the Nittany Lions build a 31-6 lead.

The Week 3 triumph at Auburn marked Penn State’s largest win against an SEC school since 1978 and was tied for the second-largest winning margin against an SEC team all-time. Since 2010, Penn State is only 2-6 against SEC teams — with both wins coming against Auburn and the other losses mostly coming in bowl games.

It’s true that Auburn is in a malaise, with its 14-13 overall record during the past three seasons, and may be ponying up for another absurd buyout for a coach that can’t seem to restore positive outcomes for the program.

But that doesn’t necessarily take away from the enormity of Penn State’s dominating win last Saturday. If the Nittany Lions can lean on their tough defense with a ground-based attack to take the pressure off Clifford, they could weather the difficult October stretch of Big Ten games at Michigan and then at home against Minnesota and Ohio State in three consecutive weeks.