ALTOONA, Pa. -- Any outlook or prediction about the 2022 Penn State football season was always going to include the ridiculously difficult schedule over the first six games. It was so daunting that, no matter how good the Nittany Lions may or may not be, it seems unlikely they could escape the first half of the season with less than two or three losses, maybe more.
If that were indeed to happen, it could set into motion a sequence of events that would impact not only this year, but also the coming years, as well.
The first six games next season were set to be:
Sept. 3 at Purdue
Sept. 10 vs. Ohio
Sept. 18 at Auburn
Sept. 25 vs. Central Michigan
Oct. 1 vs Ohio State
Oct. 8 at Michigan
But how's this for a change of schedule?
Some clever folks noticed Tuesday that Penn State's official schedule page had been changed in some big ways. This was posted by Jon Sauber of the Centre Daily Times in the afternoon (click tweet to see entire schedule):
A spokesperson told the Centre Daily Times that there have been no announced changes at this time to Penn State football's 2022 schedule. Here's what the site showed this afternoon before reverting back to the original 2022 schedule. pic.twitter.com/M57eZ7IYfX
— Jon Sauber (@JonSauber) January 11, 2022
The schedule pictured above wasn't online for very long, though, as Penn State changed it back to the original slate we've known about all along.
Shortly thereafter, the Big Ten sent out an announcement that it would be releasing revised conference schedules Wednesday at noon. Fans can watch the announcement on BTN.
Connect those simple dots, and it seems pretty clear what happened here: Penn State got word of the schedule change and posted it online, but it jumped the gun and had to wait for the official Big Ten announcement.
Regardless of how it all went down, this schedule change -- if it is what was revealed Tuesday -- figures to have a major impact on the Lions.
Penn State was facing having to play Ohio State and Michigan in back-to-back games, in weeks five and six. That would be a brutal two-week stretch for any team, no matter what.
With the new schedule, Northwestern will slide in for a game at Beaver Stadium in week five. Then Penn State will get a bye week before having to travel to Michigan on Oct. 15.
That's two big breaks with the schedule right there -- not having to play Ohio State and Michigan back to back and also getting a bye before the Michigan trip.
Penn State will host Minnesota the next week, and Ohio State will come to Happy Valley the week after that.
How big is all of this, and what does it all mean?
OK, Penn State still has to play Ohio State and Michigan, and those still could be losses. But splitting the games up and making things easier over the first six games will be significant.
Sean Clifford will be back as the starting quarterback, and one positive thing about that was that he would bring a lot of experience to all of those difficult games in the first half of the season. Now, there will be less pressure on Clifford to a degree, and maybe he can get off to a better start, as opposed to the team being buried with a 3-3 or 2-4 record.
Here's where things might have gotten really interesting. Say Penn State were to start the season 2-4. At that point, it would make a lot of sense to perhaps move on and start playing for the future, turning to Drew Allar at quarterback and getting him as much experience as possible for 2023.
But with the easier schedule that is now expected, let's say Penn State goes 4-2 in those first six games. There would still be a lot on the line, so sticking with Clifford instead of going to Allar would still be in the cards.
This is all just thinking out loud, of course, but you see what I'm getting at?
For those who will want to see as much of Allar as possible early on, that probably won't be the case if Penn State is winning. If the Lions start losing, then it would make more sense for a change to be made.
In that sense, the easier schedule could give fans more to root for in terms of wins and losses, but it could change the dynamic of what happens with personnel decisions such as Allar. Extrapolating even further, if Allar doesn't play a whole lot next year, will he still stick around? We'd all like to think so, and that the kid is committed to Penn State for the long haul. But hey, you just never know.
I know, I know, there are a lot of ifs and hypotheticals here. All I'm pointing out is that a lot of different things can happen when a team gets off to a bad start in the season, and the original schedule made it look very possible that Penn State would get off to a bad start.
The schedule expected to be released Wednesday absolutely is easier early on, and maybe the Lions can build some momentum with some wins instead of looking at Auburn, Ohio State and Michigan all in a four-week span.
UPDATE: Wednesday 1 p.m.
The schedule changes did indeed take place, with the Big Ten making the announcement. This is now Penn State's 2022 schedule:
Sept. 3 at Purdue
Sept. 10 vs. Ohio
Sept. 17 at Auburn
Sept. 24 vs. Central Michigan
Oct. 1 vs. Northwestern
Oct. 8 Bye
Oct. 15 at Michigan
Oct. 22 vs. Minnesota
Oct. 29 vs. Ohio State
Nov. 5 at Indiana
Nov. 12 vs. Maryland
Nov. 19 at Rutgers
Nov. 26 vs. Michigan State
