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Let's go easy.
Auburn provides a big-name whiteout backdrop for the Nittany Lions to full restore a full Beaver Stadium, not to mention showcasing one of the program's best recruiting tools.
As James Franklin noted the other day, most of the great players Penn State has landed trace their interest to a whiteout game.
Beating the Tigers, especially decisively, would carry the Nits closer to a top-five ranking and establish plenty of momentum rolling into a most challenging October schedule.
But before we oil up the wheels to that old blue and white national championship bandwagon, which has been in storage (along with you know what) since 1994, let's realize Auburn is actually in a rebuilding mode.
No doubt the Tigers have been battle-tested while competing in the rugged SEC West Division. (Beano Cook used to say the SEC West could compete in the NFL.)
The Tigers, however, struggled to a 6-5 record last year, fired coach Gus Malzahn and were whipped in the Outback Bowl by Northwestern. They also lost to South Carolina, which just escaped East Carolina this past weekend by two points.
This is not the same program that beat Alabama on that fluky field-goal return in 2013 - and that's one reason Malzahn is no longer there.
But just as it's clearly a new year at Penn State, War Eagle, now guided by former Boise State coach Bryan Harsin, has opened 2021 by hanging 60 points on Akron and Alabama State, which is only related to the Crimson Tide geographically.
So it appears Auburn wants to and can score.
In that regard, in addition to being a cool Big Ten-SEC matchup -- the first time Auburn has played a Big Ten team in the regular season since a trip to Wisconsin in 1931 -- it's a great challenge for Penn State's defense that so far looks like it could be Brent Pry's best at Penn State.
But no matter what happens Saturday night, the Lions' season will be determined by what they do at Iowa, which may have the nation's best defense and has won five straight over ranked teams, and, of course, in Columbus on Oct. 30.
In fact, the Buckeyes' stunning loss to Oregon in which Ohio State was gashed, leaving coach Ryan Day to consider reorganizing his defensive staff's organization, will make the Lions' task in the Horseshoe that much tougher.
First things first, though: Beating Auburn will further assure the Nittany Lions' fan base that 2020 was an aberration, but they'll need to win the Big Ten to be a College Football Playoff contender.
Rudel can be reached at nrudel@altoonamirror.com.