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When you’ve been up for a long time and suddenly find yourself down, the number of teams who spent most of those up years under your foot but now are quick to line up to get some payback can be shocking.

Indiana, which served as a cure-all for several good-but-not-great Penn State teams following tough losses to the likes of Ohio State and Michigan over the years, was the latest to take a turn pecking on the carcass of the Nittany Lions on Saturday.

Except this Indiana team was all ‘growed up.’

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Following the annual dispiriting loss to Ohio State – somehow both more AND less discouraging than usual – the unranked Penn State Nittany Lions return home to face undefeated and second-ranked Indiana as double-digit underdogs… IN FOOTBALL. What is this world coming to? And what’s next? Real “wrath of God” type stuff. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies. Rivers and seas boiling. Forty years of darkness. Earthquakes. Volcanoes. The dead rising from the grave.

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The Penn State team that took the field in Columbus on Saturday was a very different team than the last one that had played Ohio State a year ago. It was also a very different team than the one that had started this season.

After a relatively even first half, though, the Buckeyes made it look like the same old predictable horror movie that has played out on so many Fall afternoons.

With an interim head coach and what increasingly appears to be an interim quarterback, Penn State fought bravely against the nation’s No. 1 team, but in the process displayed that it was not at all equipped to handle it for four quarters and really wasn’t even if Drew Allar, Tony Rojas and (gulp) James Franklin had been on the field and sideline, either.

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Bye Week’s over now. Back to the real world.

Penn State didn’t get the win in Terry Smith’s debut as interim head coach versus Iowa, but they did cover the spread for the first time this season. Can the Nittany Lions make it a streak and keep the margin within three touchdowns in Columbus? It seems like the best a beleaguered Nittany Nation can hope for. The guys ponder PSU’s quest for small comfort against the top-ranked Buckeyes and a college coaching carousel that is quickly spinning out of control.

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Expectation: Adding Jim Knowles, the coordinator of the nation’s best defense a year ago, to a Penn State defense that was already among the nation’s top 10 would allow the Nittany Lions to be a true lockdown unit.

Reality: Penn State is a middle-of-the-pack defense in the Big Ten that hasn’t really stopped the run at all since conference play began.

Expectation: Five-star running back Nick Singleton, who ran for 2,912 yards in his first three seasons, would have another banner year behind a veteran offensive line despite continuing to split carries and reps with roommate Kaytron Allen.

Reality: Singleton is averaging 3.6 yards per carry, doesn’t yet have 100 yards total in four Big Ten games, and can’t seem to stop running directly into defenders.

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