If you're a sports fans I'm sure you've heard at one time or another that the team you're a fan of is in a must win situation.

A lot of times that statement is true, but sometimes the phrase is overused, which tends to send panic through a fan base. However, there is no doubt that this week a win for the Penn State Nittany Lions football program is a must.If you can, try not to panic just yet even though most of the Penn State faithful went from panic to straight hysteria after the Temple loss in week one. It also seems a win over Buffalo last week hasn't helped quench the thirst of criticism on James Franklin and his staff after the loss to the Owls.The reason this week's game is a must win is because PSU's opponent in the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, if you can believe it, has had a worse season up until now than the Nittany Lions.Throw in the fact that Rutgers head coach Kyle Flood and star wide receiver Leonte Carroo are both suspended for tonight's game at Beaver Stadium (8 p.m. BIG 10 Network) and a PSU victory certainly looks attainable. Flood is suspended for breaking school policy on communicating with a professor about an athlete's academic status and Carroo for being involved in an incident after the Rutgers' game on Saturday.Two of probably the most important entities to the Rutgers team won't be on the field during what should be a pretty electric atmosphere as night games usually are at Beaver Stadium. Without question, this is a situation that the Nittany Lions need to take advantage of and quite frankly should if they can execute in all three phases of the game.Last week, the Penn State offense struggled for most of the first half, scoring just 10 points and squandering some pretty solid opportunities to score.In the second half, the addition of Saquon Barkley to the fold gave Penn State an explosive asset in the backfield that they've been missing for quite some time. Barkley is the kind-of back that can make one guy miss and then make the big play. It makes opposing defenses respect the run, therefore making the play-action passing game more effective. Barkley earned Co-BIG 10 Freshman Player of the Week honors by rushing for 115 yards and a touchdown against the Bulls. Expect to see a heavy dose of Barkley tonight."Saquon is really doing well in school and really doing well football-wise," said Penn State head coach James Franklin. "From the day he got on campus it was obvious. Everybody says they want to play as freshmen, but he approached it that way. He was constantly harassing Hack about watching film, throwing with him in the summer, all those types of things. He really approached it as if not only did he want to play but he was going to make it happen."What I'm excited to see is how offensive coordinator John Donovan uses Barkley to open up the Penn State offensive playbook. I believe with a legitimate home run threat at running back that Hackenberg, if put on the move more, can make big plays downfield.Rutgers is going to try and do a lot of what Temple did defensively in week one, which is stack the box, blitz a ton, and press the receivers off the line of scrimmage. The offensive line was good last week, not allowing a sack throughout the entire ball game, but it's obvious Rutgers will have more talented pass rushers than Buffalo. If the offensive line can handle the Rutgers blitz package, the PSU offense should be just fine.Rutgers does have a pretty stout and strong offensive line, which will help them mount a pretty solid defense against Penn State's pass rush. I'm still waiting to see what I thought was going to be a top 10 pass rush in the country this season from the Nittany Lions.So far, Carl Nassib has been the star of Penn State's front four, coming through with 15 tackles, 5.5 tackles for a loss, four sacks, two forced fumbles, and an interception. Defensive tackle Austin Johnson got on track last week, generating a ton of pressure on the Buffalo quarterback, while defensive end Garrett Sickels has played solid as well. The guy we're all still waiting for to show up is highly touted defensive tackle Anthony Zettel. Once Zettel does get it going, and I'm confident he will, then the Nittany Lions front four should be a lot more successful."Carl is one of those unique guys that's put on about 65 pounds and is faster and stronger than he was," said Franklin. "So he can be a real matchup. There's not too many defensive ends at 278 pounds that are as powerful and explosive and strong and also have the football IQ that he does."With all the off-field issues plaguing the Rutgers program right now it's hard to believe that the Scarlet Knights could come into Happy Valley and get a "W."Las Vegas has Penn State as a 10-point favorite. I think the Nittany Lions do a little better than that.My prediction is Penn State 30, Rutgers 14.