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Much depends on Sean Cliord and how Mike Yurcich will impact the oense. But, overall, Penn State is in position to continue its late-season momentum and nish near the top of the Big Ten East, though reaching Ohio State's stratosphere remains a distant goal. LINDY'S SPORTS They are still very talented and were undervalued a&er last year. Penn St can go from a losing record and just four wins to the double-digit win level they are accustomed to. That classies them as my #1 Most Improved Team in the Country. PHIL STEELE Penn State hit the reset button a&er a disastrous 2020, but James Franklin has more than enough talent on the roster to make a run at the Big Ten's East Divi- sion. Mike Yurcich takes over as oen- sive coordinator a&er spending the last two seasons at Ohio State and Texas, re- spectively. He'll take over an oense with Sean Cliord returning at quarter- back and Devyn Ford and Keyvone Lee forming an interesting 1-2 punch at run- ning back. THE SPORTING NEWS Hoping to build on a four-game win- ning streak to end a disappointing 2020 season, the Nittany Lions are counting on a handful of graduate transfers to help on defense, including Temple transfer Arnold Ebiketie and Duke transfer Derrick Tangelo on the defen- sive line. In the secondary, South Car- olina transfer Johnny Dixon played well in the spring, along with early enrollee Kalen King. The Nittany Lions might be shopping for another graduate transfer to play behind returning quarterback Sean Cliord. ESPN.COM The Lions would like to believe that the last month of the 2020 season, in which they won four in a row including a rare victory at Michigan, was more in- dicative of their potential in 2021 than their 0-5 start. Cliord threw ve TD passes and only one interception in those four wins, showing that Penn State is a pretty good team when it does- n't turn the ball over. Good enough to challenge Ohio State for Big Ten East su- premacy this fall? That's a big ask, but by changing oensive coordinators, Franklin has signaled that he's willing to be bold in pursuit of the program's play- o dreams. ATHLON SPORTS W H A T T H E Y ' R E S A Y I N G in the Big Ten. But I don't see the Lions being better than 9-3. I wish I didn't have to say that. PREDICTION 9-3 MATT HERB MAGAZINE EDITOR Last season is an outlier in James Franklin's resume. His only other losing season is a 6-7 finish at Vanderbilt in 2011, and that was his first year as a head coach and also his first year in charge of a program that had been struggling for decades. Given Franklin's history, along with the unlikelihood of another run of ex- ceedingly bad luck on the injury/health/ opt-out front, the question, to me, isn't whether the Nittany Lions will bounce back from their 4-5 finish last season (they will) but whether the rebound will be forceful enough to catapult the team back into Big Ten title contention and placate an increasingly playoff-hungry fan following. The biggest variable in Penn State's outlook involves Sean Clifford's adapta- tion to yet another new offensive scheme, this one seemingly a big depar- ture from the offenses he ran under Ricky Rahne and Kirk Ciarrocca. Clif- ford is a veteran and a dedicated student of the game, but this aspect of Penn State's 2021 season outlook is, for now at least, unknowable. What's not unknowable is Penn State's schedule, which is very difficult, with road trips to Wisconsin, Iowa and Ohio State and nonconference games vs. Mid- American Conference champion Ball State and Auburn. Penn State has lost a couple of openers under Franklin and was lucky to escape with an overtime win against Appalachian State in 2018, so this year's trip to Madison gives pause. It's probably the toughest opener of the Franklin era, and I could see a loss to the Badgers dredging up some un- pleasant memories of last year. Even with those caveats, I think Penn State has too much talent to stay down for too long. Assuming the offense finds its rhythm and Clifford stays healthy, an eight- or nine-win season seems like a reasonable expectation, and maybe the Lions can win a few more if everything clicks right away. PREDICTION 9-3 RYAN SNYDER RECRUITING REPORTER Penn State should win at least eight games in 2021, but there are a few things that concern me when it comes predicting anything be- yond nine. Looking at the first half of the sched- ule, the Nittany Lions start their sea- son with four opponents in the first six games that can beat them if they play to their potential, and that doesn't in- clude a Ball State squad that returns 17 starters from a conference-winning team in 2020. Opening your season on the road at Wisconsin is a tough task, but even if they do get out of Madison with a win and beat Auburn, those games against Indiana and especially away at Iowa won't be easy. Add in Ohio State and Michigan in the second half – the Wolverines should be better – and I see six teams that can beat Penn State if they bring their A game that day. I'll predict that the Lions split those six games to finish with nine wins, earning a spot in the Outback Bowl. PREDICTION 9-3

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