Penn State Would Welcome Koby Howard Back on Saturday

The Penn State Nittany Lions are finally off the mat after their first Big Ten win of the season last Saturday against the Purdue Boilermakers.

It was a game that the Nittany Lions were huge favorites in, but they were able to take care of business in a very convincing way, even as huge favorites.

It wasn't easy, as the game went to halftime tied, but the Nittany Lions used a huge second half to pull away. A lot of it was thanks to a really impressive rushing attack, led by redshirt Junior Cam Wallace. 

The Nittany Lions rushed for 269 yards and threw for only 188 yards. If they are going to get that type of split moving forward, Penn State isn't going to lose that many games. While that is definitely true, it will be really hard to have a near 75-25 split run to pass.

The Nittany Lions still lack some explosiveness on the outside, and a lot of their vertical problems would be very quickly and easily solved by the return of one player: Koby Howard.

Howard was one of the brightest stories in all of college football to start the season. He was a guy who didn't get much run last year, but showed some promise late in the year and in the Bowl Game. 

Then, when he started this season, he put up two 100-yard games in the first three. Yes, they were against inferior competition, but he showed some explosion that the Nittany Lions have not had in a very long time. 

He was a legitimate vertical threat, and he was largely unguardable by anyone who tried. Nittany Lions fans were brimming with excitement until he checked out of the game against Buffalo.

He galloped down the field for a 70-yard touchdown, and that turned out to be the final play of his season to this point. On that run, he suffered an undisclosed and frankly not-obvious injury. 

At the time, Matt Campbell hinted that it could be a while before we saw him again, but no one really believed that it would be seven full weeks.

Last week, prior to the Purdue game, Howard jumped up on the injury report all the way to Questionable by Thursday. He fell back down that report, but it is very clear and obvious that he is getting close to returning. 

As the Nittany Lions head west to Washington, this would be an incredible week for him to return to the lineup. Penn State solved their run game last week and could find their solution to the pass game in back-to-back weeks.