PSU prepares to head to Auburn

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. – No. 22/23 Penn State goes on the road to take on Auburn on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. on CBS. The 2022 Penn State football season is presented by PSECU.

SERIES HISTORY: The Nittany Lions will take on Auburn for the fourth time in program history. Penn State earned a 28-20 win over the Tigers last year in Beaver Stadium. Sean Clifford threw for 280 yards and connected on touchdown passes with Jahan Dotson and Brenton Strange. Tyler Warren scored on a 1-yard run.

NITTANY LIONS AGAINST THE SEC: Penn State holds a 24-24 record against current members of the SEC. Of the 48 matchups, 21 have come in bowl games, including Penn State’s most recent game against an SEC opponent, the 2022 Outback Bowl with Arkansas, and last year’s matchup vs. Auburn. Penn State is 11-16 in regular season contests against the SEC.

LONG RUNS: Nicholas Singleton had an impressive Beaver Stadium introduction on Saturday. The freshman rushed for 179 yards, the most by any player in a Beaver Stadium debut, and two touchdowns on 10 carries. Singleton scored on runs of 70 and 44 yards, while adding a 48-yard rush. Singleton is the first Nittany Lion with multiple touchdown runs of 40+ yards and the first Nittany Lion with three 40+ yard runs in a game since Larry Johnson at Indiana in 2002.

SPREADING THE WEALTH: Sean Clifford, Drew Allar and Christian Veilleux combined to distribute completions to 17 different receivers on Saturday. The 17 receivers are a program record in a game. Since 1960, Penn State has had 11 seasons with 17 different pass-catchers. Clifford connected with 10 different receivers in the first half.

THE OPPOSITION: Auburn is 2-0 to begin the 2022 season. The Tigers earned a 24-16 win over San Jose State last Saturday. Auburn tallied 378 total yards, including 210 on the ground. Tank Bigsby, TJ Finley and Jarquez Hunter each scored rushing touchdowns. TJ Finley and Robby Ashford split time at quarterback with Finley throwing for 167 yards and rushing for 18, while Ashford ran for 61 yards on seven carries. Marcus Harris collected three tackles for loss and a sack.

BY THE NUMBERS

• 74: Freshmen (true and redshirt) accounted for 74 percent (423 of 572 yards) of Penn State’s offense against Ohio.
• 40 x 3: Nicholas Singleton tallied three runs of 40 or more yards vs. Ohio, the first Penn State player to do so since Larry Johnson in 2002.
• 25: Penn State leads the FBS with 25 pass breakups, including nine against Ohio.
• 10.5: Nicholas Singleton leads the FBS, averaging 10.5 yards per carry.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS

• Bryan Harsin is in his second season as head coach at Auburn, with an 8-7 record.
• Harsin has directed his programs to bowl appearances in all nine seasons as a head coach.
• Harsin coached the previous seven seasons at his alma mater, Boise State, leading the Broncos to a 71-19 record.
• He led the Broncos to five 10-win seasons, seven bowl appearances and six Mountain West Conference West Division Championships.
• Boise State won three Mountain West titles under Harsin and won the 2014 Fiesta Bowl.
• Before serving as Boise State’s head coach, Harsin was head coach at Arkansas State in 2013. The Red Wolves claimed a share of the Sun Belt title.Auburn is off to a 2-0 start to begin the 2022 season.
• The Tigers earned wins over Mercer (42-16) and San Jose State (24-16).
• Against San Jose State last Saturday, Auburn rushed for 210 yards and scored three touchdowns on the ground.
• QB TJ Finley has completed nearly 65 percent of his passes for 279 yards and a touchdown. He also has a rushing touchdown.
• Robby Ashford has also seen time at quarterback with 101 passing yards and 129 rushing yards.
• RB Tank Bigsby, a member of the Doak Walker Award and Maxwell Award watch lists, leads the Tigers with 198 rushing yards and has three rushing touchdowns.
• RB Jarquez Hunter has rushed for 75 yards and ranks third in the country with four rushing touchdowns.
• WR Ja’Varrius Johnson is Auburn’s leading receiver with seven catches for 158 yards.
• LB Cam Riley paces Auburn with 20 tackles, including 13 solo.
• DL Marcus Harris leads the Tigers with three tackles for loss and a sack.
• DL Derick Hall has 10 tackles, a sack and three QB hurries.
• K Anders Carson, selected Preseason All-SEC second team by the media, has converted all nine extra point attempts this season.

NITTANY LIONS VS. SEC

• Penn State is 24-24 all-time against current members of the SEC.
• Twenty-one of the 48 matchups have come in bowl games, most recently the 2022 Outback Bowl vs. Arkansas.
• Penn State is 11-16 in regular season matchups.
• The Nittany Lions have also played former SEC members Sewanee (1-0) and Georgia Tech (1-1).
• Ten games against current SEC members occurred before they officially entered the SEC, including South Carolina (2-0), Texas A&M (3-1) and Missouri (3-1).

PENN STATE ON CBS

• Penn State will be televised on CBS for the 26th time in program history and the first time since Sept. 16, 2000 vs. Pittsburgh.
• The Nittany Lions are 15-10 all-time when playing on CBS, including 4-1 in bowl games.
• Penn State has played five previous games on CBS against an SEC team, all against Alabama.

OHIO NOTES

• Penn State jumped to 6-1 all-time against Ohio, with all six meetings at home.
• The Nittany Lions are now 121-13-1 all-time in home openers.
• Penn State has won 19 of its last 21 home openers.
• Penn State welcomed 107,306 fans to Beaver Stadium. It was Penn State’s highest attendance for a home opener since 2007 vs. Florida International (107,678).
• Nittany Lion freshmen (true and redshirt) combined for 423 of PSU’s 572 yards (74 percent).
• In the first half, Sean Clifford completed passes to 10 different receivers.
• The Nittany Lions finished the game with a program-record 17 receivers catching a pass. Only 15 Nittany Lions caught a pass during the entire 2021 season.
• Since 1960, Penn State has had 11 seasons with 17 players catching at least one pass. The Nittany Lions had 17 pass catchers in the Ohio game.
• Penn State had touchdown runs of 44 and 70 yards, both by Nicholas Singleton. The Nittany Lions had multiple 40+ yard touchdown runs in a game for the first time since 2018 at Illinois (Miles Sanders, 48 yards; Ricky Slade, 61 yards).
• Singleton was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week.
• Singleton’s the first Nittany Lion with multiple 40+ yard touchdown runs in a game since Larry Johnson at Indiana on Nov. 16, 2002 (touchdown runs of 41, 43 and 69 yards).
• Singleton is the first Nittany Lion with three 40+ yard runs in a game since Johnson’s performance against Indiana (runs of 41, 41, 43 and 69).
• The 179 rushing yards by Singleton is a Penn State record for a Beaver Stadium debut.
• Penn State caused a safety in the second quarter. A botched handoff by Ohio was recovered by the Bobcats in their own end zone.