By Charles Jay
The really good news for the Penn State Nittany Lions this year was that they were going to be able to go to a bowl game. The bad news, unfortunately, is that they are not in such tremendous shape upon arrival. On Saturday afternoon they will tackle the Boston College Eagles in the Pinstripe Bowl, as college football betting action kicks off at 4:30 PM ET at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.
This was James Franklin’s first season at the helm in State College, and he came from Vanderbilt with a hard-nosed reputation. Indeed, the Nittany Lions have developed a defense that is hard to crack. But their lack of consistent offense led to six losses in the last eight games, and this team barely qualified for post-season action. Penn State is 6-6 straight-up and 5-7 against the football pointspread. Boston College could play a little defense as well, and they were at least functional in one part of their offense.
The Eagles are 7-5 straight-up and 8-4 against the spread. Boston College has scored 59 points over their last four bowl games, the last of which was a 42-19 loss to Arizona in last year’s Independence Bowl.
In the college football odds that have been posted on this game at Vietbet, Boston College is the slight favorite:
Boston College Eagles -2.5
Penn State Nittany Lions +2.5
Over 40 points -110
Under 40 points -110
In the last eight games, the only wins for Penn State came against Indiana and Temple. This is a team that averaged only 14 points per game in Big Ten play. Christian Hackenberg had a big freshman year, throwing 20 touchdown passes, but he has been roundly disappointing as a sophomore, with only eight TD’s and 15 interceptions, and he was sacked 39 times. There is some speculation that he may not even be around next season, and may seek another school, as there have been some reports about friction between him and Franklin.
It would be one thing if the Lions had a stronger rushing attack, but they only average 104 yards a game on the ground. So they are going to be challenged, especially as Boston College allows just 3.3 yards per carry.
Vietbet customers will notice that this is a matchup between a team that runs well and an opponent that has the ability to stop it cold. Boston College averages 237 rushing yards a game and has a quarterback in Tyler Murphy who is one of the best at his position at running the football (1079 yards). Penn State has yielded just 2.6 yards per carry and 85 yards a game. It should be noted, however, that Ohio State was able to roll for 219 rushing yards with JT Barrett at quarterback, so there are quite possibly some chinks in the armour.
Not that this will be a game where the teams will trade points, but Penn State wouldn’t be capable of it, as they have scored 14 points or less in six of its twelve games.
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