Penn State officially has bulletin-board material ahead of its White Out clash with No. 19 USC.

Trojan wideout Tanook Hines may have poked the bear Nittany Lion Tuesday when he responded to a question about what scares him most in the Penn State defensive secondary.

“Nothing much, for real,” Hines said. “Probably just the stadium.”

Penn State is no stranger to taunts from opponents or subtle shots from coaches and players before a big game.

Just two years ago, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema brushed off the impact of the Penn State fan base ahead of a primetime, ranked matchup inside Beaver Stadium. 

“They’re calling for ‘White Out energy,’ whatever the hell that means,” he said.

Beaver Stadium would later project that clip of Bielema on the video board before kickoff, energizing the student section and helping propel the blue and white to a hard-fought 21-7 victory over the No. 19 team in the land.

So they put the Bret Bielema clip on the video board about White-Out energy. Can’t recall PSU doing something like this before pic.twitter.com/GkxLkVCEy0

— Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) September 28, 2024

This Saturday, another 19th-ranked foe comes to town, and while there’s no denying that the 2026 Penn State team is nowhere near the level of that 2024 team, perhaps Hines’ extra kick of trash talk will be the jolt this team needs.

“When we play somebody, we don’t expect them to be nice,” safety Jeremiah Cooper said. “At the end of the day, [Hines] has his thoughts. At the end of the day, it’s only us. We gotta go out there and be one team, be one secondary, and all the outside noise, just let it go.”

Cooper understands the shortcomings the defense has experienced this season, particularly in the past two weeks.

He notes the lack of physicality that has plagued Penn State’s practices and game action, and the overall “embarrassing” effort that resulted in a 34-13 loss to Northwestern. 

Despite this, Penn State’s secondary ranks third in the nation in passing yards allowed and second in the Big Ten. While much of this can be attributed to the byproduct of a weak run defense, 112.4 passing yards allowed per game is certainly an impressive feat.

That unit will undoubtedly be tested on Saturday, as USC comes to town touting the No. 3 passing offense in the conference, averaging 305 yards per game thanks to stellar quarterback play by Jayden Maiava.

Cooper and his teammates have the skill to slow down the Trojans, but won’t shy away from taking advantage of every bit of motivation that’s thrown their way.

If that comes in the form of a wideout who has accumulated just 113 yards over four games, so be it.

“[Hines] is a talented receiver,” Cooper paused before smirking. “That’s all I gotta say.”

Heading into the White Out, vibes in the locker room are different than what they’ve been all season. 

As the national media prepares to descend on Happy Valley ahead of its marquee event of the year, the players recognize the opportunity that presents them to make a statement and flip the script on the season.

“Everything is up right now,” Cooper said. “We let everybody down just playing how we played these past two weeks. So we know we gotta get all that back. A great fan base like this, great game, White Out game, we need the fan base, and they need us.”

Matt Campbell has a shot at changing the narrative when his team takes the field at Beaver Stadium on Saturday. With a chance to secure a signature win amid monochromatic mayhem, the Nittany Lions look forward to giving Hines and USC something to fear after all.