Nittany Lions Get Negative Injury News Regarding Their Top Wide Receiver

One of the major storylines so far this year has been the absence of Penn State wide receiver Koby Howard. 

Howard came into his second season with so much hype, and for good reason. He was one of the bright spots on the Nittany Lions at the end of last year and showed flashes of potential. 

Then, in Penn State's first three games he went for over 100 yards in two of the three of them and it was looking like Penn State had a star on their hands. Then, as he ran for a huge touchdown against Buffalo in week three, he sustained a lower-body injury and has been on the shelf ever since.

Right away, Matt Campbell did say that the injury he sustained would cost him time this year, but I don't believe anyone could have anticipated it would be this much. Week after week, he has landed on the injury report but is listed straight up as "out."

This week, his injury status was listed as "questionable," and he was trending towards playing, until he wasn't. 

Late on Friday, the injury report came out, and Howard was downgraded from questionable to doubtful for the game. The doubtful tag has been just as good as "out." With the doubtful tag comes a last-ditch effort to try to play, with the understanding that it probably isn't realistic.

All things considered, this is a disaster for the Nittany Lions, who just need a win. They haven't really done anything well up to this point in the season, and they need a spark, something positive to take into the offseason.

Today would have been a great day for it, as they are hosting the Purdue Boilermakers at home in a game that they are double-digit favorites in. They have the chance for their first Big Ten win of the season and the first Big Ten win of Matt Campbell's career against a really potent Purdue offense.

Penn State's offense has been really bad all year, mostly because of poor quarterback play and no real threat at the receiver position. They don't have anyone on the outside who poses a threat, so teams can stack the box and commit to stopping Penn State's run game. It's been a very useful formula since Big Ten play started.

Adding Koby Howard back would change the calculus on that, but he isn't quite ready yet.

For the fifth straight game, Penn State must prepare to compete without their best wide receiver. They need a win on Saturday, and they have to do it in any way possible.