Big Ten rankings: Who is the biggest threat to Ohio State’s conference crown?

3. Biggest threat to Ohio State: Penn State

Over the last couple of years, the Penn State Nittany Lions have emerged as one of the better teams in the conference. They’ve battled Michigan for second in the Big Ten East the last two seasons. Is Penn State definitively better than Michigan this season? Even if they are, can they defeat Ohio State and win the Big Ten East?

Penn State’s defense should be every bit as good as any team in the conference. That includes Ohio State. Though they lost Yatur Gross-Matos to the NFL draft, they return a ton of experience. Shaka Toney and Jayson Oweh combined for 11.5 sacks last season in rotational duty. Oweh will likely see more snaps this season with Gross-Matos’ departure.

Their leading tackler and arguably the best linebacker in the country Micah Parsons is back this season leading a talented linebacker group. The back end has productive veterans as well. There’s an old football adage, “two things travel well, defense and a running game.”  Well, Penn State has the defense.

How they fare against Ohio State has everything to do with how well Sean Clifford improves this season. To be an elite program like the Buckeyes, you need a playmaker at quarterback. Can Penn State trust Clifford to do that?

He was streaky last season, completing less than 60 percent of his passes and looked for the big play too often. His offensive line was good, but not elite last season, which did not help things. They are a veteran group this season, however.

Not only does Clifford have to be better, but the skill players around him also have to be better as well. KJ Hamler is in the NFL, who is going to step up and be the dynamic playmaker on the offense. They have many candidates, but someone needs to step their game up to be the Buckeyes.

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