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THE GOING GETS TOUGH
The Nittany Lions are set to face a daunting slate this season. Here's how it shapes up
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t's not an easy road.
If Penn State is to win a Big Ten
championship in 2018, it will cult
matchups this fall.
And the thing is, compared to its con-
ference brethren, Penn State has a sched-
ule that's fairly easy. According to Phil
Steele in his 2018 College Football Pre-
view, seven other Big Ten teams – Purdue,
Michigan, Nebraska, Maryland, Rutgers,
Northwestern and Michigan State – have
a tougher road ahead than the Lions. Yes,
these are preseason rankings, but only the
Southeastern Conference is built like the
Big Ten this year.
For Penn State, it starts with some
winnable games early and some winnable
games late. Mixed in between, however,
are twists, turns and obstacles.
What follows is an assessment of the
Lions' upcoming games, listed from the
most winnable to the most di>cult. Not
only does the ranking take into account
the caliber of the opponent, but also the
timing and placement of each game on
the schedule.
12. KENT STATE It hasn't been so golden
lately in Kent, Ohio. Four seasons have
now passed since the Flashes have won
more than three games. But they ap-
peared in the Top 25 during the 2012 sea-
son, ranking as high as No. 18 in the
Associated Press poll, and played in the
GoDaddy.com Bowl. Sean Lewis, a former
o=ensive assistant at Syracuse, has taken
over as head coach and is aiming to get
them back to their winning ways. In
Beaver Stadium on a mid-September
day? That's unlikely.
11. RUTGERS Penn State has outscored
the Scarlet Knights 102-9 the past three
games, and Rutgers has only won twice in
this series dating back to 1918. On the
100-year anniversary of this – um? – ri-
valry, can Rutgers suddenly reverse the
trend? Finding a quarterback might be a
good place to start.
10. MARYLAND As of mid-August, head
coach D.J. Durkin was on administrative
leave a?er a report by ESPN raised ques-
tions about his coaching methods. It was
unclear whether Durkin would return.
No matter who is in charge of the pro-
gram this season, the Terrapins will have
to face one of the 10 toughest schedules
in the nation, opening with Texas and
closing with back-to-back games against
Ohio State and Penn State, the second of
which will take place in Beaver Stadium.
This ranking isn't meant to imply that
Maryland is a worse team than Ap-
palachian State or even Indiana, Pitt or
Illinois. It's just that the timing of this
game isn't very good, as the Terps will be
wrapping up their regular season against
a hungry Nittany Lion team that will be
looking to enhance its postseason stand-
ing. Did we mention that it will also be
senior day?
9. APPALACHIAN STATE Season openers
sometimes can be tricky, no matter the
opponent – and that is in no way a refer-
ence to a certain upset in Ann Arbor,
Mich., back in 2007. There are always
early-season wrinkles, and if they're not
ironed out in time, Appalachian State is a
budding program that would love nothing
more than to take advantage of them and
validate itself against Penn State. Now
competing in the Football Bowl Subdivi-
sion, the Mountaineers have won 30
combined games the past three seasons
and are a formidable
