After an unusual 2020 season, to put it kindly, big things are expected for Penn State according to national analysts and experts. If things go well for Penn State, the Nittany Lions could work their way back into a New Years Six bowl game, but one USA TODAY college football writer isn’t going quite that far for Penn State in 2021.
Erick Smith shared his preseason bowl projections for the 2021 college football season, which officially got underway this past weekend with Week 0. Smith has Penn State heading back to a bowl game being played on New Years Day, but you can scratch the Rose Bowl off the list of options for the Nittany Lions. Instead, Smith is predicting a January 1 showdown with the LSU Tigers in the Citrus Bowl.
Penn State last played LSU in the 2010 Capital One Bowl at the conclusion of the 2009 season. Daryll Clark and the Nittany Lions edged LSU, coached by Les Miles at the time, on one of the worst playing surfaces in modern college football history. Penn State is 2-0 all-time against LSU.
A spot in the Citrus Bowl would certainly indicate a good season for James Franklin, Sean Clifford, Jahan Dotson, Jaquan Brisker, and the rest of the Nittany Lions, as it is one of the better Big Ten bowl tie-ins outside the New Years Six. With Ohio State slotted by Smith to play in the College Football Playoff, the Big Ten’s spot in the Rose Bowl would be occupied by Wisconsin, whom Penn State faces to open the 2021 season in Week 1.
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Game-by-game predictions for Penn State Nittany Lions in 2021
This either indicates the Rose Bowl would prefer the Big Ten West Division champion over any other Big Ten option or, simply, that Wisconsin beats Penn State at the start of the season. Penn State is an underdog on the road against the Badgers, so the logic seems to make sense.
But after not playing in any postseason bowl game in the 2020 season, any bowl destination will be welcomed by the Nittany Lions in 2021. It just so happens they could be going to one of the better options for Big Ten teams.
Penn State can dramatically change the early outlook of some of the Big Ten bowl projections in Week 1, which is a busy weekend for the Big Ten with multiple conference games including Indiana-Iowa and Ohio State-Minnesota.
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Top 21 players for the Nittany Lions entering 2021
