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a close game to the Buckeyes in Colum- bus, there would still be a path to the playo with an 11-1 record. But that didn't happen. Penn State got caught at-footed and trailed the Golden Gophers by 11 at hal#ime. The Lions ended up losing, 31-26, despite to- taling 518 yards. Sean Cliord threw for 340 yards but also tossed three intercep- tions. Two weeks later, PSU lost a com- petitive game at Ohio State, and that was the end of its playo bid. With three near-misses in the team's recent past, many fans are no doubt wondering if the Nittany Lions will al- ways be bridesmaids in the Big Ten East Division race. Franklin has established Penn State as the Buckeyes' top com- petitor for the division title, but it's not enough to play competitive games. The Lions have to win their share, and they've not done that recently. They have won only two of their past 10 games against Ohio State, with the 5rst of those victories coming in 2011 when they prevailed at the Horseshoe, 20-14, in a game that was overshadowed by the o-the-5eld circumstances facing both programs. So, will the 2021 season be dierent? It certainly won't be easy to break their current four-game losing streak in the series when the Lions visit Colum- bus on Oct. 30. Even though they lost three All-Americans on oense in quar- terback Justin Fields and linemen Wyatt Davis and Josh Myers, as well as star running back Trey Sermon, the Buck- eyes still appear to have the best oense in the Big Ten by far. Freshman C.J. Stroud came out of spring practice as the leading contender for the starting quarterback job, and the talent sur- rounding their young QB should enable the Buckeyes to 5eld another elite of- fense this fall. Ohio State returns two 5rst-team All- Big Ten wide receivers in Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson, along with what many believe is the conference's top re- turning tight end in Jeremy Ruckert and a solid running game headed up by Mas- ter Teague III and the Class of 2021's top-rated running back, TreVeyon Hen- derson. But there is no question the Buckeyes will miss Sermon's 7.5-yards- per-carry average. It's Ohio State's 2020 defensive per- formance that gives Penn State and other Big Ten teams hope that the perennial powerhouse may be vulnerable this fall. The Buckeyes lost all three starting line- backers from last season: Baron Brown- ing, Tuf Borland and Pete Warner. That trio helped Ohio State hold opponents to only 97.6 rushing yards per game and 3.4 yards per carry. Also, the Buckeyes are coming o a 2020 season in which they ranked last in the Big Ten in pass defense, allowing 304.0 yards per game, with 16 touchdown passes and only seven inter- ceptions. All told, Ohio State surren- dered 25.8 points per game and ranked ninth in the conference with an average of 401.6 yards allowed per game. Even though it must replace seven starters from that defense, Ohio State seems to be a near-unanimous choice to qualify for the College Football Playo this season. If Penn State hopes to re- verse its fortunes against the Buckeyes, it must 5nd a way to put 35-plus points on the scoreboard. It will have to be able to exploit any de5ciencies in Ohio State's defense and 5gure out how to outscore this elite oensive machine. Some might call it "mission impossi- ble," but I'm not that pessimistic. For Penn State to upset Ohio State on the road this year, it will have to produce its best oensive performance against the Buckeyes in more than a decade. Since 1950, the Nittany Lions have gone 6-12 in road games vs. Ohio State, with three of those wins coming before the start of the Paterno era. Since joining the Big Ten in 1993, PSU is 2-12 in the Horseshoe. When they head to Columbus in late October, the Nittany Lions will very likely be seeking their biggest road upset in the series since 1964, when an unranked PSU team stunned second-ranked Ohio State, 27-0. A lot will have to go right for the Lions to pull that o. Here's a look at what they will need to do: 1. Sean Cliord will have to play like he did in the rst eight games of the 2019 season. In those eight games, Clif- ford completed 64.5 percent of his passes for 1,931 yards, with 20 touch- down passes and just three intercep- tions. Cliord had success throwing the ball against the Buckeyes last year, complet- ing 18 of 30 passes for 281 yards, with three touchdowns and just one intercep- tion. But most of that success came in the second half of the game a#er Ohio State had established a 21-6 lead. Penn State's oense was totally one-dimen- sional that night. The Nittany Lions 5n- ished with a season-low 44 rushing yards on 27 carries, averaging just 1.6 yards per attempt. The Buckeyes domi- nated the line of scrimmage, as Devyn Ford 5nished with 36 yards on eight car- ries to lead PSU. That will have to change if Penn State hopes to have any chance of upsetting the Buckeyes in 2021. The Nittany Lions will need to have something re- sembling a balanced offensive attack. If they're as one-dimensional as they were last year, they won't be able to score the 35-plus points they will al- most certainly need. 2. Penn State's oensive line must play up to its potential. Three oensive linemen with starting experience are back this fall: Rasheed Walker at le# tackle, Mike Miranda at center and Caedan Wallace at right tackle. Walker is rated by some as a possible late-5rst- round selection in the 2022 NFL Dra#, while Wallace and right guard Juice Scruggs both appear to have pro poten- tial. And although Harvard transfer Eric Wilson is an unknown at this point, he could turn out to have a very high ceil- ing, too. Last year, Penn State's oensive line did not play up to its preseason expecta- tions. The Lions were able to average 174.3 yards per game and a respectable 3.9 yards per carry to rank 5#h in the Big Ten. But against Ohio State, the ground game was ineective. The Nittany Lions 5nished with only 325 yards of total of- fense, and 281 of those yards came from the passing attack. Because its oense was one-dimensional, Penn State con- verted only 3 of 9 third-down opportu- nities and controlled the ball for just 22

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