Auburn football: Owen Pappoe calls Penn State “a statement game”

Last year, the Auburn football team made the trip up to Happy Valley to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions in one of the toughest environments in the country–a nighttime white out game. The contest was close, but ultimately the Tigers fell to the Nittany Lions in disappointing fashion.

One year later, the Nittany Lions will journey to the Plains to take on head coach Bryan Harsin’s second-year team from Jordan-Hare Stadium. In their interactions with the media this week, the players have made it very clear how big of a deal this game is to them.

Team captain, senior EDGE Derick Hall has been one of the most vocal supporters for the team to wear orange jerseys this weekend, something that the team has been hinting at on social media and fans have absolutely rallied around.

Senior tight end John Samuel Shenker said that the ending of last year’s Penn State game left a sour taste in everyone’s mouth, knowing that they should have pulled off a win, and that this contest has been circled on the calendar for awhile, now.

And Owen Pappoe, who sustained a season-ending injury versus the Nittany Lions last year, has his eye on the prize ahead of the Tigers’ third game this season, per Auburn Live:

"“I’ve been looking forward to (the game). I’m definitely looking forward to going out there and executing at the highest level. They’re ranked, what, number 22 in the country? So this is a statement game for us to show them that we need to be recognized as one of the top teams in the country.”"

While the Nittany Lions are heading into the game as the favorite and the Tigers are certainly still answering some questions about their offense, the energy is massively different in preparing for a formidable opponent. It won’t be easy for Auburn football to pull of an upset, but anything can happen in JHS.