Penn State fans will hate this ESPN analyst’s B1G upset of the year

There is an old college football thought that if you are going to play your worst game of the season and suffer your worst loss, it is best to get it out of the way as early as possible so you have time to make up for it. If that is the case, then ESPN doesn’t think Penn State will have to wait very long to get the ugly taste out of its mouth. In fact, it will just be a matter of days.

ESPN college football reporter Mark Schlabach rolled out his entire list of preseason predictions for each power conference in college football for the 2022 season. Along with final record predictions, season MVPs, coach of the year picks and more, Schlabach also pointed out his upset picks of the year. Penn State losing to Purdue is his upset pick of the year in the Big Ten.

Penn State opens the season on Thursday, Sept. 1 at Purdue. This marks the third straight season Penn State has opened a college football season on the road against a Big Ten opponent. The Nittany Lions came up short against Indiana in 2020 but edged Wisconsin in 2021. Penn State is a slight road favorite against the Boilermakers going into the Thursday night opener, but a road game at Purdue, especially at night, is not the ideal place to ease into a new season.

A week after Penn State’s loss to Iowa last season, Purdue handled the Hawkeyes, ranked No. 2 at the time, with a 24-7 upset in Kinnick Stadium. A couple of weeks later, Purdue blasted No. 4 Michigan State by a score of 40-29. Penn State would later lose to that same Spartans squad in the regular season finale. The only games Purdue lost last season were against Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Notre Dame.

Purdue scoring a victory on Thursday night against Penn State would certainly be considered an upset though, but upset of the year? That feels a bit premature to suggest given how strong a season Purdue had last season, as well as Penn State’s past two seasons. Penn State isn’t even ranked to begin the season, although Schlabach does…