Nebraska Will Meet a Penn State Team With Plenty to Play For

The Nittany Lions need to beat the Huskers to keep their hopes for bowl eligibility alive. Then dangerous Iowa comes to Lincoln.

Penn State running back Kaytron Allen could cause Nebraska some problems when the teams meet Saturday in University Park. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Nebraska could have enjoyed an edge against Penn State next Saturday, but that advantage was wiped out in the second half of the Nittany Lions’ win at Michigan State yesterday.

Penn State won, 28-10, breaking away from a 14-10 halftime lead, With the win, Penn State remained alive for a bowl game at 4-6, 1-6 in the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions need to defeat Nebraska on Saturday and defeat Rutgers on Nov. 29, to become bowl eligible.

Could Penn State’s bowl motivation be a spark against the Huskers? You better believe it. Penn State, in the throes of one of its worst seasons ever, still can salvage a bowl game with two wins.

Penn State and its 100,000-plus fans will be ready to bring the noise and the heat when Matt Rhule and the Huskers come to town for a 6 p.m. CT kickoff.

As for the Huskers’ final regular-season game, at home on Black Friday against Iowa, the Hawkeyes went to USC on Saturday and slugged it out in a driving rainstorm with the Trojans before losing, 26-21.

The Hawkeyes led 14-0 and 21-7 in the first half but couldn’t hold on.

And from Nebraska’s perspective, Iowa is tough enough, right?

Penn State 28, Michigan State 10

Nebraska (7-3, 4-3) will go into the Penn State game on a one-game winning streak, fashioned by running back Emmett Johnson and by true freshman quarterback TJ Lateef’s performance in a 28-21 win at UCLA.

The Huskers are coming off a bye week so Lateef should be well prepared for Penn State, which will come after him with everything at its disposal.

Penn State’s issues are well documented, especially around Lincoln. James Franklin was fired and starting quarterback Drew Allar was lost for the season with an injury.

The Nittany Lions spiraled after both departures, losing at Iowa and Ohio State and losing a close game at home to Indiana.

The Indiana game signaled a rebirth for the Nittany Lions. The No. 2 Hoosiers were lucky to survive, 27-24, with what has been called the “catch of the year” for the winning touchdown by Omar Cooper Jr. 

Penn State followed with a strong performance at Michigan State, which was without starting quarterback Aidan Chiles (foot injury). Maybe it was the competition — Sparty has lost seven consecutive games — but maybe the Nittany Lions have found their rhythm behind redshirt freshman quarterback Ethan Grunkenmeyer.

One thing about Penn State: The Nittany Lions, who snapped as six-game losing streak, were ranked in the top three in the preseason — No. 1 in some eyes — and it wasn’t strictly because of Allar. If anything, the rap on Allar was the same as the beef on Franklin — the inability to consistently win against highly ranked opponents.

Now, Allar is charting the game on the sideline. Penn State has plenty of talent throughout the roster, as Indiana can certify. Its real strength is at running back. Kaytron Allen ran for a career-high 181 yards and he isn’t considered PSU’s overall best back. That would be Nicholas Singleton.

Penn State running back Nicholas Singleton celebrates a touchdown vs. Indiana. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Allen has rushed for 917 yards and 12 touchdowns. Singleton has rushed for 419 yards and nine touchdowns.

That kind of talent could spell trouble for Nebraska’s run defense, which ranks 93rd in the nation, allowing 161 yards per game.

“I’m just super happy for our kids,” Penn State interim head coach Terry Smith told the media after the game.

“I’m super happy for our program. I’m super happy for our fans and our following. We deserved this game. We now know again what it feels like to win, and we just got to build on this with momentum.”

USC 26, Iowa 21

The Hawkeyes are 6-4, 4-3. Before losing to USC, the Hawkeyes were on the edge of a possible College Football Playoff spot, if they got a lot of help from other teams. All four Iowa losses were by one score and all against ranked opponents. Iowa is 0-13 in its last 13 games against ranked opponents.

Iowa, strong as always, wasn’t that far from being a CFP team this year. The Hawkeyes lost by a total of 15 points to Iowa State, Indiana, Oregon and USC.

Iowa’s defense came into the USC game ranked sixth in points allowed (13.7) and seventh in yards per play allowed (4.3), but USC rallied from its first-half deficit.

Iowa defensive back Jaxon Rexroth puts pressure on USC quarterback Jayden Maiava. | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

USC quarterback Jayden Maiava passed for 254 yards on 23-of-32 passes and one touchdown. In weather that seemed more suitable for a team from the Midwest, the West Coast team kept alive its CFP hopes.

The Des Moines Register reported that Iowa was 64-1 when leading a game by 14 points before Saturday.  Iowa was driving for a go-ahead touchdown before the two-minute warning when receiver Kaden Wetjen was rule out of bounds — by a big toe — at the USC 7-yard line. The play was a fourth-and-sixth and effectively ended the Hawkeyes’ chances.

Next up for Iowa is its home finale against Michigan State.

Then, the Hawkeyes visit Lincoln. Playing Nebraska seems to get the Hawkeyes fired up and straightened out. Iowa has won 9 of the last 10 games against Nebraska and 10 of the last 12 meetings, including six consecutive wins at Memorial Stadium.

Iowa is a problem Nebraska has to solve.

Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola, tight end Nate Boerkircher (87) and tight end Luke Lindenmeyer react after an incomplete pass last season vs. Iowa. | Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

For Nebraska, with a 7-3 record, the final two games represent the difference between a huge step forward for the program with two wins (9-3); a decent step forward with one win (8-4); and with two losses, a better record than 2024 (7-5 vs. 6-6).

But losses in the final two games would leave the Huskers heading to a bowl game with a bitter taste in their mouth. Nebraska’s season of promise and excitement would be an improvement over 2024, but still not good enough in the eyes of many.

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