Penn State Football vs. Ball State: Nittany Lions’ 3 keys to victory

1. Penn State Football secondary must put the clamps on Ball State wide receiver Justin Hall 

Ball State wide receiver Justin Hall is the active FBS leader in receptions and can quickly become a nightmare for the Nittany Lions if the secondary isn’t careful.

The five-foot-nine, 186 pound Hall has 265 receptions for 2,909 yards in his career and picked up where he left off in week one against Western Illinois, hauling in eight passes for 137 yards and two scores.

Coming into the season this looked to be potentially the best secondary Penn State Football has had during Franklin’s tenure, and they played like it against Wisconsin, allowing only 185 yards while intercepting two Graham Mertz passes.

They held the leading Badger wide receiver Danny Davis to eight catches for 99 yards.

Hall is the type of player that can singlehandedly keep the Cardinals in this game Saturday but did have his struggles the last time he faced power five competition. Back in 2019 they opened the season with Indiana and he caught only six passes for 39 yards in a loss.

Look for Penn State Football to be rotating  a lot of bodies in the secondary to keep guys fresh and get some younger players more reps, but they must know where Hall is at all times on the field, because he is there one true game changer on offense.