By: Tyler Millen - GoPSUSports.com
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State is 5-0 for the fourth consecutive year and will make its longest trip of the season to play USC for the first time in seven years on Saturday at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Penn State is coming off a 27-11 win over UCLA on Oct. 5 and is the only FBS team in the country to start 5-0 each of the last four seasons. It’s also the first time in program history the Nittany Lions have started 5-0 in four consecutive years.
The matchup of the cross country foes is the first non neutral site game since they faced off at Beaver Stadium in 1994. It’ll also mark the first regular season game between Penn State and USC since 2000 and the first time the two teams will face off as Big Ten teams.
USC (3-2, 1-2 Big Ten) has dropped two of its last three games with both of those losses coming on the road to Michigan and Minnesota. The Trojans - led by third-year head coach Lincoln Riley - are powered by redshirt junior quarterback Miller Moss who’s 24th nationally with 1,398 passing yards and nine touchdowns.
“It's always challenging when they've got a quarterback, and they do in Miller Moss, who has done some really good things in his time at USC; back to the bowl game last year,” head coach James Franklin said. “His completion percentage, touchdown-interception ratio, all those things, are really good.”
The Nittany Lions and Trojans have two of the highest producing aerial defenses in the country and will go toe-to-toe with a pair of dynamic passing attacks. Penn State and USC rank No. 11 and No. 13, respectively, in passing defense with just .6 yards per game separating the two.
USC will have to defend a Penn State offense that’s fifth nationally in explosive play percentage as junior quarterback Drew Allar leads the Big Ten with 15.08 passing yards per completion. Redshirt junior wide receivers Harrison Wallace III, Liam Clifford, junior wideout Omari Evans, and senior tight end Tyler Warren are the first Penn State quartet with 100-yard performances in a single game since 2017.
Penn State’s defense will contend with a USC offense that averages just over 30 points per game and a team that’s scored 65 percent of its points in the second half. The Trojans have 101 second half points and the Nittany Lions defense has allowed just 17 points in the final two quarters.
The Nittany Lions front seven have played a significant role in dominant second halves as forcing opponents into common passing situations has allowed a tenacious defense to attack the quarterback. Franklin discussed the disruptive role of junior defensive tackle Zane Durant on Monday and said, “Zane [Durant] is a guy that just athletically and movement-wide is going to factor in.”
“I don't know the last time we've had a defensive tackle as disruptive as Zane, and now that makes it challenging," Franklin said. “You've got a guy inside that you're watching on tape and it's a concern. Now you've got D-ends on either side that can be problematic. Where are you going to pick your poison?”
Durant has amassed five tackles for loss and a career-high 2.5 sacks on a defense that ranks fourth in the country in rushing defense at 76.2 yards per game allowed. Durant is a part of an experienced defensive line and is second on the team in TFL’s behind junior defensive end Adbul Carter who places 11th nationally with eight.
Alongside Durant and Carter stands redshirt senior defensive tackles Dvon J-Thomas, Hakeem Beamon, junior defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton and others that provide a level of unmatched speed and strength. Franklin discussed how the defensive line has taken a step forward from a physicality standpoint and said it’s become a standard within the group.
“I think it starts up front and I think we are more physical than we've been in the past,” Franklin said. “It's something we've worked really hard at promoting. I think the guys are having fun with it right now, and it's growing. I think we're starting to build a reputation of being a physical team, which is something we take a lot of pride in.”