Three reasons why Penn State Football will beat Purdue on Thursday

1. An Abundance of Offensive Talent

Penn State’s best receiver from last year, Jahan Dotson, is gone, but the team brings back a ton of talent on offense.

Parker Washington caught 64 passes for 820 yards and four touchdowns last year. Keandre Lambert-Smith added 34 catches for 521 yards and three touchdowns. Additionally, the Nittany Lions brought in Western Kentucky transfer Mitchell Tinsley to play receiver. Add in two promising young players in Harrison Wallace and Malick Meiga, and you have a pretty solid group.

The Nittany Lions also have three tight ends who saw action last year in Theo Johnson, Brenton Strange and Tyler Warren.

Quarterback Sean Clifford does not lack options in the passing game.

The fact that Penn State can attack in so many different ways with so many different players will make its passing attack difficult to stop.

Purdue had a respectable pass defense last season , giving up 208.7 yards per game. The problem with that is that two of the best pass rushers from last year, George Karlaftis and Damarcus Mitchell, are no longer there. Clifford will have less pressure in his face.

Additionally, Purdue’s pass defense was so good in part because they played a lot of inept passing offenses in out of conference play and in the Big Ten West. Against Michigan State, they allowed Payton Thorne to complete 66.7% of his passes for 276 yards and two scores. C.J. Stroud from Ohio State did even better, completing 81.6% of his passes for 361 yards and five touchdowns.

Hendon Hooker from Tennessee also had a big day against Purdue’s secondary, completing 61.9% of his passes for 378 yards and five touchdowns. Penn State cannot be afraid to throw it around.

Purdue seemed to struggle against teams that had an abundance of athletes on the outside, and that’s what Penn State has.