It’s almost time, folks.

What was once one of the most anticipated matchups of the college football season is now slated as an execution as Penn State travels to Columbus to take on No. 1-ranked Ohio State.

The Nittany Lions’ season has been a wash, to say the least. They were once projected to be a favorite to win the national championship, started the year as the No. 2 team in the country, had what was once believed to be the best coordinator duo, and had a plethora of returning talent.

Fast forward to now, and the Penn State program is seemingly in shambles. Its national rank has tanked with four-straight losses to unranked Big Ten foes, returning talent such as Drew Allar and Tony Rojas are out for the year with injuries while Nick Singleton has clearly digressed, Jim Knowles’ defense is getting gutted by every offense the Nittany Lions play, Andy Kotelnicki’s offense looks gimmicky and ineffective, and long-time head coach James Franklin is gone.

Now, Penn State has its first ranked game since its heartbreaking loss to Oregon. It’s no secret that nearly everyone outside of the Lasch Building has written off the Nittany Lions, but there is still a positive nucleus within the program that believes they can hang around with the Buckeyes on Saturday.

“The guys are ready. They know what’s in front of them,” interim head coach Terry Smith said Wednesday. “No one’s giving them a chance, and we’re just gonna stay together and we’re gonna play hard.”

Smith plans to “control the game” and outrush the Buckeyes on Saturday. During Monday’s press conference, he made a similar statement as he called running backs Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton the team’s two best offensive weapons.

Allen has been eating all season and is coming off a career day in Kinnick Stadium against the Hawkeyes, where he went for 145 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries, good enough for a 5.2 yards per carry average.

Singleton, on the other hand, has faded into the RB2 role with only six carries for 15 yards against the Hawkeyes. The senior back has always been a problem for opposing defenses in the passing game, but left Iowa City with a single catch for no yards.

Kotelnicki and co. are going to need both backs to be at their very best on Saturday. Although Ohio State’s running back room has not been as dominant as in years past. It’ll take a massive offensive effort to record a notable running game against a top-tier Ohio State front seven.

On defense, there are some glaring concerns. Knowles, the former defensive coordinator at Ohio State, has yet to prove why he deserves the annual $3.1 million check shelled out this past offseason.

Each week since Penn State’s Big Ten opener against Oregon, the Nittany Lions’ defense has been gashed. Although it has mostly been at the hands of mobile quarterbacks, a threat that is not terribly relevant with Ohio State’s Julian Sayin, there have been clear signs of fatigue and a consistent lack of ability to keep its opponent off the field.

Against Northwestern, for example, the Nittany Lions were victims of three 12-play drives, all ending with points, and the last one to lose the game. In the second half against the Hawkeyes, Penn State surrendered points on all three Iowa drives, including a two-play touchdown drive to lose its lead with less than four minutes to play.

In Penn State’s losses, the defense hasn’t been good against the pass either, surrendering 577 passing yards and six passing touchdowns before playing the run-heavy Hawkeyes.

Now, with Ohio State on the horizon, the defensive scheme of Jim Knowles will be tested on all fronts, but more importantly, through the air.

The Buckeyes’ receiving corps is the best in the country, with second-year star Jeremiah Smith and junior receiver Carnell Tate leading the charge. The two are both in the top-30 in the country in receiving yards and rank amongst the top-20 in receiving touchdowns.

“Don’t let them get behind you,” Smith said. “You have to stop those guys…we just have to make sure we keep those guys in front of us. We got to put an umbrella over top of the defense and make them earn their way down the field.”

Smith had a lot of respect for the duo, calling them both a threat to Penn State’s success against the Buckeyes. He described Smith as a clear-cut early-first-round draft pick with every intangible in the book. Tate, a threat of his own, shows himself as an explosive playmaker.

Although the odds are stacked against the Nittany Lions on Saturday, Smith has implemented a mindset that showed positive signs of a cultural and team-wide reset over the bye week.

“We got a saying this week that we’re going to ‘chop wood.’ You’ve got to be able to chop a redwood tree until it’s done. That’s a hard task. It’s one chop at a time. You have to believe in those chops that it’ll eventually break through for us, and that’s what our belief is.”