Penn State Football: September storylines to watch

Gameday is finally here as the we are now into September, and there will be plenty of storylines to watch for Penn State Football throughout the season, particularly early on.

From a new coordinator to many new faces expected to contribute, as well as some question marks at the two most important positions on the field, these are the top five storylines to watch throughout the month of September for the Nittany Lions.

Penn State Football storyline #1 – has the offensive line truly improved?

At the risk of sounding like James Earl Jones’ monologue in Field of Dreams: one of the constants through all the years under James Franklin has been the preseason notion that this is finally the year that the offensive line will have improved.

Will that statement actually be true this year? We’ll see.

Juice Scruggs moved from right guard to his strongest position which is center, Olu Fashanu–who showed promise last year–will be protecting Sean Clifford’s blind side, Landon Tengwall and Sal Wormley figure to be upgrades at guard, and an experienced Caedan Wallace returns at right tackle.

On paper, it would seem like it should improve, but paper doesn’t protect the quarterback and open holes for running backs.

The Nittany Lions will play four games in September, two of which will be tough road tests. The other two matchups will be home games against far inferior opponents, but Penn State’s offensive line even struggled against those types of teams in 2021.

So, by the end of September, we should have a good indication of whether or not the offensive line has improved from 2021, and if so, how much?

Surely, the eyes of many members of the fanbase will be glued to the offensive front over the next four weeks.