What will it take for PSU to beat Ohio State? That and more in the Penn State mailbag

Our latest mailbag of the season is here and we have the answers to your questions. As a reminder, if you have any questions send them to psu_mailbag@centredaily.com for inclusion in the mailbag in the future. From big picture to small minutiae, we’ll answer your queries about the Penn State football program.

Penn State is off to a solid start at 4-0 and has Northwestern this coming weekend with a good chance to make it 5-0. I feel like there are still a lot of question marks with this team as we ramp up for the big question we seem to ask every year: What is it going to take to upset Ohio State in late October? —Ryan

It’s about that time. Penn State’s annual matchup with the Buckeyes is looming and it’s starting to draw more attention thanks to the Nittany Lions’ hot start. Ohio State is playing as well as ever, boasting one of the most dynamic offenses in the country. Marvin Harrison Jr. has developed into a star at wide receiver to go with Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who has missed time with an injury. That duo, along with TreVeyon Henderson at running back and C.J. Stroud at quarterback, form the most potent attack Penn State will see this season.

Beating the Buckeyes starts with stopping, or at least limiting, them. Manny Diaz’s defense will need to be at its best, with Kalen King and Joey Porter Jr. locking in and limiting the opposing wide receivers to give the defense a chance to force turnovers. The Nittany Lion offense is going to need extra possessions to keep up with Ohio State, so getting the ball back for it will be crucial. Of course, they’ll need to finish those drives with touchdowns. Explosive plays on offense are crucial to beating the OSU defense. So what will it take? Penn State’s best performance of the season on both sides of the ball.

What are the chances Manny Diaz is back for a second year with Penn State? —Sharon

Presumably, this is about Diaz leaving for greener pastures. Few additions to James Franklin’s staffs at Penn State have been as impactful as the new defensive coordinator has so quickly. He’s changed the identity of the defense and is putting his best players in positions that allow them to succeed while improving the team’s chances of success. Diaz is running a defense as his lone responsibility for the first time since 2018. He spent the last three seasons as Miami’s head coach and there’s plenty of reason to think he’s going to be leading a team again soon enough.

That’s the most likely scenario for Diaz to leave this offseason. Given how much success he’s had, it would be a really bad look for the Nittany Lions to lose him to another defensive coordinator job, so I have to think the program will pony up however much it has to in order to match that type of offer. What it can’t match is the chance to lead a program. Diaz is well-liked by many of Penn State’s players and has the personality necessary to be a head coach. He didn’t end up on the outs at Miami because of nefarious reasons, so he should get a chance again relatively soon. There are already openings at places like Arizona State and Georgia Tech, but I’d still bet on Diaz staying at Penn State for one more year before getting another head coach job.

With non-conference play over with, what’s Penn State’s toughest non-Ohio State matchup the rest of the year? —Seth

The three-game stretch Penn State has after the bye week is going to be the toughest stretch and in it is the toughest non-Ohio State matchup — and the matchup with the Buckeyes. The Nittany Lions have one difficult road game left this year and it comes on Oct. 8 right after the bye week when they travel to Ann Arbor to take on Michigan. The Wolverines are undefeated and have been fairly impressive early on this season but faced their first close call last week when they only beat Maryland by a touchdown. They struggled with the Terrapins’ offense and didn’t look like an elite level defense in the game.

That bodes well for Penn State, who should be able to give the Michigan offense issues. That being said, this game is still on the road and it’s still a tougher game than facing Minnesota in a White Out. There aren’t a ton of options for difficult matchups outside of those two the rest of the way and I always tend to lean toward the road game being more difficult. That being said, it isn’t outside the realm of possibility for Penn State to win every non-Ohio State game they have the rest of the season and end it by going 11-1 on the year.

Send in your questions

That’s it for this week’s mailbag. Don’t forget to email us at psu_mailbag@centredaily.com to get your questions answered. We’ll have you covered this Saturday for Penn State’s game against Northwestern, so be sure to head to CentreDaily.com for all of the coverage you need.