Picking Every Bowl: Outback Bowl, Penn State vs. Arkansas

Outback Bowl
January 1
Penn State (7-5) vs. Arkansas (8-4), Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Fla., noon, ESPN2
Arkansas -3 – O/U 48.5

Thirty-three games into the bowl season, we have finally reached the real reason that we celebrate the New Year — college football! It has always been thus — the year I was born, there were a whopping eight bowl games played, and believe it or not, some teams didn’t even get to play in a bowl game! Now, every team gets included in the parade, so after wading through two weeks of “meh” bowl games, your reward is a day with five games that should be at least halfway decent, including this game, once called the “Hall of Fame Bowl” but which is now named after an Australian themed restaurant. The Nittany Lions are accustomed to playing in the postseason, having been awarded a bowl every year but one since 2014. (The lone exception being last year, when Penn State went 4-5 in the COVID-shortened season.) Arkansas has a storied history but had fallen on hard times in recent years, with four straight losing seasons. This year’s Razorbacks are probably Arkansas’ best team since 2011, when the Hogs went 11-2. Both teams will be missing key pieces of their teams, having lost numerous players who are opting out to prepare for the draft. This hits Penn State hardest, as the Lions lose their top two tacklers on defense, as well as starting safety Jaquan Brisker. Arkansas will be missing All-SEC wide receiver Treylon Burks. At full strength, Penn State’s offense isn’t much, and though Arkansas’ defense isn’t great, they still have plenty of speed and will fly to the ball. The Lions will score enough to win, but their defense won’t be able to slow down the Razorbacks and KJ Jefferson, who will spend most of the game in or near Penn State’s red zone.
Prediction: Arkansas 31-24
Result: Arkansas 24-10

Record:
Bowl season: SU – 22-11; ATS – 19-14-0; O/U – 14-19-0
Overall: SU – 614-192; ATS – 386-334-6; O/U – 345-369-12

About Douglas Blaine

Capnpen is a writer who was a newspaper and magazine journalist in a previous life. A college journalism major, he now works as an English teacher, but gets his writing fix by blogging about a variety of topics, including politics, religion, movies and television. When he's not working or blogging, Capnpen spends time with his family, plays a little golf (badly) and loves to learn about virtually anything.

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