Barrett Sallee: Consider Penn State a pivot point for Bryan Harsin

This Saturday under the hot September sun in East Central Alabama in Jordan Hare Stadium, Penn State is a pivot point for Bryan Harsin, so says CBS Sports’ Barrett Sallee in his Week 3 SEC college football picks.

As Sallee points out, the offseason inquiry into the Auburn football program has put the spotlight squarely on the performance of the former Boise State head coach and (even further back in time) quarterback.

Harsin has handled his business during the first two weeks of the 2022 season, though not in a convincing fashion. His Tigers failed to cover the spread against both Mercer and San Jose State and entered the second half of Week 2 down to the same Spartans that struggled to put Portland State away.

With so much uncertainty moving forward regarding how this season will play out given the disappointing, but ultimately not all that meaningful, early season results, Sallee marked this game as a possible breaking point/breakthrough:

"“Consider this game a pivot point for Harsin. A win over Penn State could set the tone for a five-game home winning streak to start the season, which will leave him plenty of margin for error down the stretch. A loss, however, could splinter a program that is already vulnerable to outside forces.”"

Paul Finebaum called Penn State-Auburn a bellwether for how Bryan Harsin’s second season will go

There’s now precedent for how a Bryan Harsin campaign on the Plains happens, and the early returns from 2021 are unfortunate. Though his Tigers ran through LSU, Arkansas, and Ole Miss in a brilliant October that had fans fantasizing about winning the SEC West, the program was consumed by the internal issues, Bo Nix’s injury, and T.J. Finley’s retroactive open admission that he wasn’t ready for the QB1 role by season’s end and lost its final four games after being outclassed by Texas A&M at Kyle Field.

Harsin is facing a tough road ahead, but there’s no guarantee it will lead down the same path as the 2021 season. Penn State could be the beginning to something great…or not. Paul Finebaum, like Barrett Sallee believes the Nittany Lions national T.V. matchup is a bellwether game for how the rest of the 2022 season will turn out.