On the road with trends, streaks, records, and unsettled scores in a game that’s become overrated for being “underrated.”
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“Penn State better not sleep on Illinois.”
Trust me; they won’t.
Over the course of the offseason, what began as the go-to highbrow talking point on the Nittany Lions’ 2023 slate slowly morphed into the laziest take of the litter: this Week 3 road trip’s status as a classic “trap game.” Setting aside the flaws inherent to the argument at its outset – Illinois saw terrific defensive backs selected in the first three rounds of April’s NFL draft along with offensive lynchpin RB Chase Brown; this is not a program that simply reloads – and the team’s less than intimidating 1-1 start to the season, the sheer volume of “trap game” takes alone was enough to ensure Illinois isn’t sneaking up on anybody. At some point, this game became overrated for being “underrated.”
So let’s dispense with all that clap trap (game). If this team even approaches what we and most pundits believe them to be, they won’t lose to the Illini. But since this column is all about setting the weekly narrative, here are three other storylines I’m tracking as the Nittany Lions prepare to don their (as the kids say) icy road whites for the first time in 2023…
