Penn State Football heads into the heart of SEC country, to close out a home-and-home series against Auburn, aiming to sweep the Tigers and move to 3-0 to open the 2022 regular season.

When Penn State kicks off against Auburn at 3:30 p.m. on CBS, the program will be sharing center stage on one of the premier broadcast windows of the day.

Saturday’s game not only has the chance to serve as a barometer for the Nittany Lions‘ season, and whether this team has legitimate Big Ten Conference championship aspirations, but could serve as a springboard on the recruiting trail, as well.

Here are our predictions for Penn State Football at Auburn:

L.J. Santa Maria – Lead Football Writer

The Lions will travel south for the first time since 2010 and take on the Auburn Tigers in what should be a raucous Jordan-Hare Stadium in an “Orange Out.”

This is a tough game to predict, because Penn State Football seemingly has edges at almost every position group on the field over Auburn, but it is never easy going on the road in this type of environment.

Veteran quarterback Sean Clifford won’t be all that phased though as he has been there, done that in college football, including two weeks ago at Purdue. This team is already battle-tested coming into this one after a dramatic victory in West Lafayette, as opposed to the Tigers who have yet to leave home or even play a power five program.

Offensively, Auburn is really struggling at quarterback with TJ Finey and Robby Ashford who are collectively completing 50 percent of their passes, with one touchdown and four interceptions against FCS and Mountain West opponents.

If Penn State can keep Auburn from breaking any big, explosive plays on the ground then points should be hard to come by for Auburn in this one.

Offensively this has all the makings of a game Clifford wins or losses for the Nittany Lions.

Last season against the Tigers, they struggled to run the ball, but kept Clifford upright, not allowing a sack en route to a career day passing, completing 28 of 32 passes. Don’t expect quite a repeat of that, but this feels like another game where the experience of Clifford comes in handy for Franklin and company.

Auburn fans have spoken a lot about the voodoo of Jordan-Hare, and the weird outcomes that stadium provokes, but Penn State Football is the better team here.

Prediction: Penn State Football 23, Auburn 13

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Patrick Sweda – Football Writer

This will be the hardest road environment of the season outside of maybe Michigan.

There is no doubt that Penn State Football is the more talented team, though.

Auburn just last week struggled with San Jose State at home. However, we know that teams get up for big games, and going down and winning at an SEC team, no matter the record, is always a tough task.

If Penn State Football can jump out to an early lead, they should be able to win this one easily.

This game will be won in the trenches, and that starts with protecting Sean Clifford. Wallace will need to improve at right tackle, and the Nittany Lions will need to establish the run early to help quiet the home crowd.

Defensively, Penn State Football will need to stop the run better than they did last year. This will include stopping Tank Bigsby who has 198 yards averaging 6.82 ypc and three touchdowns so far this season.

While difficult, the Nittany Lions should be able to pull away late and get a solid win at Auburn.

Prediction: Penn State 35  Auburn 24

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Derek Brynildsen – Football Writer, Recruiting Analyst

The Nittany Lions travel down to the Plains Saturday for a matchup against the Auburn Tigers. It will be Penn State’s first SEC road trip since Alabama in 2010.

As for the game, it’s going to be an absolute slugfest. Every play is going to matter. The team that makes more plays offensively is going to come away victorious.

I like Penn State’s chances against Auburn’s secondary, which hasn’t looked great to start the season. On the flip side, Penn State’s secondary should be able to make Auburn’s offensive attack one-dimensional. Once that happens, the turnovers from TJ Finley could start flowing.

Prediction: Penn State Football 28, Auburn 24

Dave Malandra – Football Writer

As we know, it’s always challenging to win on the road especially when you enter SEC territory.

Auburn is looking for revenge, after losing to the Nittany Lions last year. For this year’s matchup, I believe Penn State’s offense will do most of the damage as they will lead the way to a 3-0 start.

Prediction: Penn State Football 24, Auburn 13

 

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