SMU vs Penn State Prediction College Football Picks 12/21/24

The SMU Mustangs and Penn State Nittany Lions meet Saturday in the first round of the college football playoffs at Beaver Stadium. Here’s an SMU vs Penn State Prediction. This article will include an SMU vs Penn State Pick.

SMU Mustangs Betting Preview

The SMU Mustangs recently beat Virginia and Cal, and they lost to Clemson. SMU has won 10 straight road games. Kevin Jennings is completing 66 percent of his passes for 3,050 yards, 22 touchdowns, and 8 interceptions. Roderick Daniels Jr. and Key’Shawn Smith have combined for 1,111 receiving yards and 8 touchdowns, while Jordan Hudson has 35 receptions.

The SMU Mustangs ground game is averaging 176.1 yards per contest, and Brashard Smith leads the way with 1,270 yards and 14 touchdowns. Defensively, SMU is allowing 20.8 points and 326.1 yards per game. Kobe Wilson leads the SMU Mustangs with 110 tackles, Jahfari Harvey has 7 sacks and Ahmaad Moses has 3 interceptions.

Penn State Nittany Lions Betting Preview

The Penn State Nittany Lions recently beat Minnesota and Maryland, and they lost to Oregon. Penn State has won 6 of its last 7 home games. Drew Allar is completing 69.1 percent of his passes for 2,894 yards, 21 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions. Tyler Warren and Harrison Wallace III have combined for 1,700 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns, while Omari Evans has 19 receptions.

The Penn State Nittany Lions ground game is averaging 202.2 yards per contest, and Nicholas Singleton leads the way with 838 yards and 7 touchdowns. Defensively, Penn State is allowing 16.4 points and 282 yards per game. Jaylen Reed leads the Penn State Nittany Lions with 79 tackles, Abdul Carter has 10 sacks and Tony Rojas has 2 interceptions.

SMU vs Penn State Prediction

The Penn State Nittany Lions are obviously the more talented team and could run away with things at home. The problem is, that SMU is far from a pushover, ranked sixth in scoring offense and 28th in scoring defense. SMU has also outright won its last three games as an underdog, two of those games coming this year. James Franklin also has a long history of coming up small in big games, and the teams’ performance against Oregon in the Big Ten Championship didn’t change much. Penn State is 1-5 SU in its last 6 games against ranked teams. Not sure SMU wins this game outright, but I’ll grab the points.