Outback Bowl: Tennessee vs Penn St. @ Tampa, FL

Penn St +4
Happy New Year everyone, it’s a great day when there are so many games to choose from and to get it all started before noon. The Dean is going to start the year with some action on the Penn St/Tennessee game. Both these teams have been off for a long time, Penn St since 11/18 and Tennessee since 11/25. Conventional wisdom tells us to expect the offenses to struggle a bit until the rust comes off. This may not mean much to Penn St’s offense as it has not been overly-impressive this year. If you remove Temple, Youngstown St, and Akron from the Nittany Lion totals, they are averaging less than 17 points per game. The good news for PSU is they only allowed an average of 17 points in those same games and under 15 points in all games. Keep in mind that Notre Dame hung 41 on Penn St early in the year when the PSU linebackers were banged up. Also, Ohio St’s 28 points included two defensive Buckeye scores.

Tennessee meanwhile rebounded a bit from last years debacle. But when you look at their schedule closely, you are pressed to find a quality win that doesn’t come with some qualifier. At first glance, Cal and Georgia are the two wins that would classify as quality. Not to take away too much from the Volunteers but the Cal game was not as impressive for Tennessee as it was horrendous for Cal. And with Georgia, Tennessee caught the Bulldogs at the height of UGA’s struggles.

Penn St’s four losses were to ND, Ohio St, Michigan and Wisconsin, all BCS teams. In addition, the ND game is the only one that PSU didn’t have a chance to win late. Granted, PSU was a dog in all those games and they lost all 4 SU and ATS but they were one play away in each of those contests. In addition, Tennessee’s run defense has allowed almost 150 yards per game overall and almost 170 per game over their last three.

Penn St’s bowl success is well documented. When it comes to devising schemes and making the most of the time to prepare, The Dean puts stock in the PSU staff over Phil Fulmer’s staff and believes that today is the day that Penn St finally gets a win over a high-profile team. I will be playing this at 4-stars, taking Penn St and the points.

REVIEW: Penn St. 20 – Tennessee 10

As previewed.