Three potential trap games for Penn State Football in 2022

STATE COLLEGE, PA - OCTOBER 23: Sean Clifford #14 of the Penn State Nittany Lions is chased out of the pocket by Owen Carney Jr. #99 of the Illinois Fighting Illini during the second half at Beaver Stadium on October 23, 2021 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /

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EVANSTON, IL – OCTOBER 07: Saquon Barkley #26 of the Penn State Nittany Lions is chased by Alex Miller #95 of the Northwestern Wildcats at Ryan Field on October 7, 2017 in Evanston, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

Penn State Football vs Northwestern

In week five, Northwestern will visit Happy Valley in what will be the first matchup between the Nittany Lions and the Wildcats since 2017. To put that into perspective, that was Sean Clifford’s true freshman season.

Led by one of the more underappreciated head coaches in America — Pat Fitzgerald — Northwestern is always a candidate to pull off an upset.

After winning the Big Ten West in a hectic 2020 season and actually playing with Ohio State for most of the game in the conference championship, the Wildcats fell off in 2021, going just 3-9.

However, they have a veteran roster and welcome six experienced transfers to their squad.

Penn State will obviously be the far more talented team, but with Michigan on the horizon and an experienced, well-coached Wildcat team hungry for a bounce back season, the Nittany Lions could be in for a dog fight (or I guess in this case, a cat fight) if they don’t show up to play.

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