Penn State’s 2017 football season is a flip of the recent script as the Lions transition from underdogs to defending Big Ten champions and prime national title contenders. The schedule sets up nicely for another run at double-digit wins, but it does feature a number of tricky matchups that will require James Franklin’s team to be focused and prepared to handle many of its opponents' most inspired efforts.
PennLive staff assembled win-loss predictions for all 12 games on the Lions’ schedule and arrived at similar conclusions about the pressure points. Some teams such as Michigan and Ohio State were more obvious than others, but the challenges were plenty enough that only one writer — yours truly — predicted the Lions will be unbeaten when they clash with Michigan and Ohio State in late October.