Penn State football and Memphis face off in what should be an entertaining contest. Can the Tigers cap off the best season in school history with an upset?
Penn State and Memphis will face each other for the first time and what better first meeting than in a New Year’s Six Bowl. This will be the biggest bowl game in Tigers’ history and the first appearance in the Cotton Bowl for the Nittany Lions since 1975.
This season has been far and away the best season in Memphis school history. The Tigers lone blemish was a two point loss at Temple on Oct. 12. They finished 12-1 including a victory over Cincinnati in the American Athletic Championship game.
The Tigers will be without head coach Mike Norvell who accepted the head job at Florida State. Offensive line coach Ryan Silverfield was promoted to take over and will coach the bowl game.
Penn State started the year 8-0 but dropped games to Minnesota and Ohio State in November to finish 10-2. It is the third 10 win plus season for the Nittany Lions in the last four seasons. They will look for their second New Year’s Six bowl victory in the last three years.
Date: Saturday, Dec. 28
Time: Noon ET
Location: Arlington, Texas
Venue: AT&T Stadium
TV: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN
Keys to Victory
How can Memphis pull off the upset? It starts with their high powered offense. Wide receivers Damonte Coxie, Antonio Gibson, and Kedarian Jones are all NFL caliber players. Quarterback Brady White threw for over 3,500 yards this season plus has a 1,400 yard running back in Kenneth Gainwell. The Tigers can score on anyone and Penn State’s secondary was a weakness down the stretch, being exposed badly in the loss at Minnesota and even in victory against Indiana.
Penn State has a major advantage in the trenches, especially with their defensive front. Memphis has an explosive offense but they have not seen anything like Penn State’s front seven. Defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos will be playing his last game after declaring for the NFL Draft and linebacker Micah Parsons was named a first team All American and is all over the field. The secondary may be shaky, but good luck to the Tigers running against a brick wall. The Nittany Lions also like to get after the quarterback in droves.
Betting Odds
Odds courtesy of The Action Network
Point Spread: Penn State -7
Over/under: 60
Prediction
This should be a fun one. Memphis is very talented and a legit threat to win. Penn State cannot take them lightly. It will be a back and forth affair the whole way.
Memphis jumps out early but Penn State will hit back. Both White and Penn State’s Sean Clifford have solid days, but it will be running backs Journey Brown and Noah Cain that will find a little more running room for the Nittany Lions. On defense, Parsons goes crazy with a 15 tackle day and an interception.
Memphis will give Penn State all it can handle and then some. The game will be tied with about seven minutes left to go. That’s when the Penn State running game will take over and wear down a worn out Memphis defense. The Lions cap the drive with a game winning touchdown and win their 11th game of the year.
Final Score: Penn State 35, Memphis 28