Sunday Column: Nittany Lions Chug Some Alka-Seltzer and Avoid Disaster in Sobering Follow-up to their Tiger Takedown

Typically, there are two ways a team responds from the sort of lopsided road win Penn State earned at Auburn last week when it plays its next game against inferior opposition.

1. Continue the momentum with sharp execution, big plays, physical dominance, or some combination of all of those things.
2. Play like everyone on the team, including the staff, had been out at the “bar” from Varsity Blues the night (and morning) before.

At home for a noon kick against a 1-2 Central Michigan team Saturday, the Nittany Lions did both during a sort-of-but-not-that-convincing 33-14 win.

It’s not easy for any team to avoid a letdown after a statement game like Penn State played last week, only because college football teams are, in every instance so far, composed entirely of human beings, and human beings do predictable and repeatable and frustrating but wholly human things like lose their focus or underestimate their opponent or make mistakes that they haven’t learned from yet (or that they have). And also because the other team, in every instance so far, is also made up of human beings, and humans on teams like Central Michigan have pride and desire and very little to lose, which often makes them annoying at the least and dangerous at the most to teams like Penn State.

All that said, the Nittany Lions came out of the gate and looked fresh as daisies, jumping to a two-score lead while looking crisp on offense and aggressive and swaggery on defense. Sean Clifford was hitting the center of the hypothetical bulls-eye and making good reads, the offensive line was giving him time to do so, and the running game did just enough—or at least commanded the respect and attention of the Chippewa defense—to open huge holes downfield for Clifford’s receivers.

And then the hangover set in.

It was just a little headache at first, as Central Michigan converted one fourth down, then another for a touchdown. Then came the nausea, as receivers dropped two well-placed darts from Clifford with defenders right on top of them, leading to a turnover on downs. And, finally, the dry heaves, when the Chippewas went 67 yards in nine plays with very little resistance and tied the score at 14-14 with 6:25 left in the second quarter.

The rest of the way was better; the Nittany Lions popped some Advil, chugged some electrolytes and let Kaytron Allen do his thing. The defense, which had already come up with one takeaway, added two more, and the visitors would not score again. The Nittany Lions got a little work, albeit choppy work, for Drew Allar, Dani Dennis-Sutton flashed with some late pass-rushing moves, and they avoided serious injury and posted a win that won’t get them in trouble with the pollsters, though it certainly won’t bolster their national stock the way the previous week’s win did.

So what did we learn from this one? Eh, probably not much. Expecting any college team to put together 12 or 13 (or 14) perfect weeks is as silly as expecting them to put together four consistent quarters in any one of those games. After making steady improvements from Week 1 to 2 to 3, the Nittany Lions were likely due to lay an egg. And when you can lay eggs and win by 19, even against a very meh MAC opponent, it’s not a bad place to be.

At the same time, it was disappointing to see sloppy play in all three phases, especially considering the strong opening quarter. Penn State didn’t need to play the way it did at Auburn to beat Central Michigan, nor will it need to do so to beat Northwestern next week. But the Auburn win was so enticing not because of the final score but because it seemed the Nittany Lions were starting to build some real momentum. They looked poised to add to that momentum for the first, oh half hour on Saturday before a disconcerting symphony of dropped passes, missed assignments, missed throws, missed tackles and missed field goals (by two kickers, no less).

The Penn State coaches were probably OK with this one, because their team pocketed the dub while making more than enough mistakes to give the staff plenty to cover, and get on their guys about, in film breakdowns. And any chance of the players feeling too good about themselves after last week was pretty much gone by the end of the afternoon. There was much work to be done even after the beatdown of the Tigers (who didn’t exactly look much better in a win over Missouri Saturday), and there is much work left now. The difference is that Penn State is more keenly aware of that this week.

There shouldn’t be a hangover from this win, but there were fewer signs that there will be more hangover-inducing celebrations going forward than the Nittany Lions might have been hoping for. We know now, or at least were reminded, that these Nittany Lions are very human. Better teams have lost to worse opposition with lighter hangovers, of course, so the fact that they got the job done without having to sweat too much should not be discounted.

Of course, it’s only human to be a little disappointed, too.