College Football Preview – Penn State Nittany Lions vs. Auburn Tigers

College Gameday will head to Happy Valley this Saturday night as the Penn State Nittany Lions welcome the Auburn Tigers to eastern Pennsylvania. Penn State already has a nice win on its resume by beating Wisconsin in its season opener, but Auburn’s two wins have both come against minnows. We’ll see just how good the Tigers are on Saturday.

Bryan Harsin and the Auburn Tigers will face their toughest test yet when they take on the Penn State Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania on Saturday, September 18, 2021, at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC.

College Football Betting Odds

Auburn +5.5

Penn State -5.5

Total 52.5

Penn State gritted out a 16-10 victory over Wisconsin in the season opener after a scoreless first half thanks to three Badgers’ turnovers. The Nittany Lions had a much more comfortable victory last week against Ball State though, beating the Cardinals 44-13.

Auburn has crushed each of its first two opponents. The Tigers hammered Akron 60-10 in their opener and followed that up with a 62-0 win over Alabama State. They get another cupcake next week when they take on Georgia State before starting their brutal SEC schedule.

When Penn State Has the Ball

The Nittany Lions aren’t great on offense. Sean Clifford is continuing to have accuracy issues, but at least he isn’t being plagued by the turnover problems that sidetracked the 2020 campaign. He is averaging 7.7 YPA through Penn State’s first two games, but he has two excellent receivers in Jahan Dotson and Parker Washington.

Noah Cain is the primary running back, but Keyvone Lee and Devyn Ford will also have chances to carry the ball. Clifford is a decent runner too, and this offense will try to have success running the ball against Auburn’s front seven.

Auburn currently leads the nation in run defense, allowing 0.6 YPC. Neither Akron nor Alabama State is a top 125 program though, so the jury is still out on just how good the Tigers are up front. This secondary has some talent with Smoke Monday and Roger McCreary as starters.

When Auburn Has the Ball

We’ll see Bo Nix tested for the first time this season too. Nix has looked sharp against inferior opponents, but he was not impressive against conference foes last season. He completed less than 60% of his passes and averaged 6.8 YPA in 2020, and this Penn State defense will be more like an SEC defense than anything he has seen to this point.

The ground game will find tougher sledding as well. Tank Bigsby has 241 yards and two touchdowns while averaging 10.0 YPC, and Jarquez Hunter has run for 257 yards and two scores while averaging a whopping 15.1 YPC thanks to a 94-yard TD run.

Penn State has looked superb on defense so far. The Nittany Lions are allowing 3.9 yards per play as grad transfer Arnold Ebiketie and PJ Mustipher have been strong up front. Tariq Castro-Fields and Jaquan Brisker are playing well in the secondary, so Nix won’t find it as easy to throw on this team.

Prediction

The under is probably the best bet in this game, while the side to take is Penn State. The Nittany Lions are playing at home, and the Tigers are totally unproven to this point.

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