The Nittany Lions have the chance later tonight to show that their dismal offensive performance against Northwestern back on September 27 was nothing, but a fluke. That chance will come at the "Big House" as Michigan will host Penn State in what will be the first ever BIG 10 night game at the Wolverine's stadium.

Was that six-point performance against the Wildcats just a bad day at the office? Or is it that the Nittany Lions' offensive line is so bad right now that there are more games like the Northwestern game on the horizon? Those questions can certainly be answered tonight (7 p.m. ET, ESPN 2) as PSU will undoubtedly enter a hostile environment of close to 110,000 people. It will be a true test of character for the Nittany Lions offensive line and their sophomore signal caller Christian Hackenberg.Hackenberg has been highly touted since joining the blue and white, but his performance against Northwestern was simply lackluster as he threw for 216 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. Now, it was easy to see that Hackenberg didn't have much time to throw the football, but if he indeed is to be a successful quarterback at the next level he has to make the majority of his throws count. Hack will be looking to bounce back this week against a Michigan defense that is giving up 215 yards passing per game. Although the Wolverines have been struggling they will still be aggressive defensively.Penn State's inability to run the football doesn't bode well for Hackenberg either. Michigan is giving up just 2.9 yards a carry to opposing running backs, so that means Hackenberg will most likely have to bear the brunt of the offense once again."They will play quarters and they play a lot of quarter one and a lot of man coverage," said Penn State head coach James Franklin. "In a lot of ways they remind me of when I used to be in the ACC and you'd play Florida State and they load the box to take the run away by numbers, and they press you on the outside to take what I call gimmie throws away and really make it difficult on you. They are very good up front. They run to the ball well."Say what you want about how Michigan has played to this point. They still have a ton of gifted athletes on its football team and with a home crowd behind them it won't be an easy path to a "W" for PSU by any means.It's obvious that the Penn State offense must recover from a 266-yard performance against Northwestern. Aside from the offensive line play I believe a big concern for the Nittany Lions' offense is the lack of productivity from their tight end position. This is a position grouping that was touted as being the best in the BIG 10 and one of the premier groups in the country. Jesse James (15-178-2TD), Kyle Carter (6-63-0TD), Mike Gesicki (4-43-0TD), and Brent Wilkerson (2-18-0TD) have combined for just 302 yards and two touchdowns.The Penn State offense's struggles in the passing game and at the tight end position is probably the reason why you haven't seen the Nittany Lions dial it up more often with Hackenberg. Penn State is averaging just 27 points per game, which is on the low side for a Christian Hackenberg led offense. PSU has scored over 30 points just once this season compared to last season where they scored over 30 points six times.Don't go wagging your finger at Franklin just yet.Without a run game there the defense isn't fooled on play action passing plays and without the tight ends working the middle of the field the defense will tend to not let any receivers beat them on deep routes. Basically, line play and the play of the running backs and tight ends must improve or you're going to see a pretty vanilla approach from Coach James Franklin and his staff."You have to be careful to not become too conservative in how you're calling the game because that can make you a little predictable as well," said Franklin. "To create explosive plays, there's usually some risk associated with that in terms of play-action or drop backs or holding the ball a little bit longer. Well, now you have a chance for a negative yardage play and that puts you in third and long sometimes and it makes it difficult to sustain drives and things like that."What Franklin is referring to is exactly what happened to Penn State against Northwestern because there was no push from the offensive line and thus no running attack. The Wildcats played pass all the way and it made it difficult for "Hack" to complete passes.In all honesty, it's not realistic to think that the Penn State offensive line is going to make incredible strides this week. The key is to improve and handle the Michigan front just enough for them to get some positive yards running the football and for Hackenberg to have some passing lanes.The Nittany Lions will once again rely heavily on their defense and despite all their depth issues they've played very solid. They're ranked second in the country in rush defense and are ranked 10th in the nation in scoring defense, giving up just 14.6 points per game.Even though the Michigan offense hasn't been fantastic this season (22.3 ppg, 354 total ypg) Penn State will need to contain dual threat quarterback Devin Gardner (75 of 120, 911 yds, 5 TD/7 INT). Gardner hasn't been particularly sharp, but he's still dangerous. The Penn State "D" will also need to stop wide receiver Devin Funchess (29 for 392 yds (13.5), 3 TD).If Penn State is to win this ball game my guess is the defense had a lot to do with it.Offensive line play, a more efficient running attack, and improved play by the tight ends are all things that the Penn State faithful would like to see this week. Quite, frankly if the Nittany Lions don't improve in those area things could get ugly for them in Ann Arbor tonight.Las Vegas has Penn State favored by one point. My pick is Penn State 34, Michigan 31.