Penn State football defensive tackle Dallas Vakalahi knows a thing or two about the Michigan Wolverines.

Vakalahi spent the last two seasons at Utah under now-Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham. It’s not exactly a homecoming for him, but the West Valley, Utah, native is excited to line up against his old coach and former teammates.

“Coach [Whittingham], he’s an amazing coach. One of the biggest things I noticed about him is he’s very big on culture,” Vakalahi said after practice Wednesday. “I expect to play a team that’s built their chemistry together, and they’ve grown really strong in that aspect.”

Vakalahi joined Penn State on January 8, just 13 days after the Wolverines hired Whittingham following the Sherrone Moore scandal. The 326-pound defensive tackle noted Whittingham’s departure as a surprise, but he still holds much respect for his former coach.

With so much time in his system, though, Vakalahi knows exactly what Penn State’s defense should expect on Saturday in the Big House.

“One of the biggest things is coach Whittingham is big on being physical. He’s a lot,” Vakalahi said. “A lot of things he does are having the guys up front being the most physical and out-physicaling their opponent. I think what our plan is is to match that, if not be more physical than them.”

That recipe and ideology don’t seem to align with what Penn State has shown in recent weeks.

The Nittany Lions were dominated at the line of scrimmage against Northwestern and USC, and it’s been a glaring issue that has prevented Penn State from truly forming an identity on either side of the ball.

Defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn went so far as to say he doesn’t know if Penn State won the line of scrimmage once against the Wildcats.

With Michigan’s talent and Whittingham’s emphasis on physicality at the line of scrimmage, the Wolverines could smell blood in the water come Saturday. Still, the Penn State defensive line remains focused on its own process and on building chemistry.

“In practice every day, being able to play with each [defensive] tackle and having a different rotation has kind of helped us find our best fit, and those who we know we fit best with,” Vakalahi said. “And then, as well as helping us learn each other’s tendencies and what we do. Some people like to go inside out and vice versa … Just knowing how to play off of each other.”

Vakalahi emphasized Penn State doesn’t have chemistry issues on the defensive line, but the group is still figuring out the scheme and how each piece flows together for the best possible on-field product.

One of the unit’s biggest shortcomings is its lack of ability to get home on the quarterback. The Nittany Lions have produced eight sacks so far, with linebacker Tony Rojas accounting for four and Kooper Ebel, Caleb Bacon, Yvan Kemajou, and Alex Tatsch notching one.

Kemajou and Bacon are the only defensive ends on that list. No defensive tackle has registered a sack yet. Penn State also lost Tatsch to a season-ending injury.

For comparison, Michigan has 12 sacks on the year. USC has 15.

“The biggest thing is just being able to first rush off the edge, and then as well as getting our interior [defensive] linemen involved in that,” Vakalahi said. “This week in practice, we’ve been really emphasizing the fact that we need to use the interior [defensive] linemen to put pressure as well and get in that backfield.”

Penn State will especially need to be on its toes against Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood. While he hasn’t had a great season so far, he is still arguably the most athletic quarterback the Nittany Lions will face all year.

Vakalahi mentioned third-down stops as a necessary area for growth. Wisconsin, Northwestern, and USC went 14-for-38 (36.8%) on third down combined.

That isn’t really a bad figure, and Michigan’s offensive third-down conversion percentage sits at 40.7%. Penn State just has to be prepared and be better at the line.

“The biggest thing is just getting off the ball, getting hands on first, and making sure that we’re the ones striking and not being struck,” Vakalahi said. “As we’ve been in practice, a lot of the things that we have seen are just being able to snatch off. Just make sure that we’re in our gap and that there’s nothing else that’s going to take us out of it.”

Penn State and Vakalahi have to up the physicality and be ready to go against a Wolverines team that has something in common with the Nittany Lions: they’re both starving for a win.