Penn State Football opens as underdog to Wisconsin
By Chris Snyder
Penn State Football faces one of its most daunting Week 1 opponents in decades, the Wisconsin Badgers
When Penn State Football takes to the road for their season opener next month, the Nittany Lions will open as underdogs to the Wisconsin Badgers.
Heading into Penn State Football’s clash against B1G foe Wisconsin at Camp Randall Stadium, the betting experts have the Nittany Lions as 4.5 point road dogs.
Here is the latest betting info, and our insight into Penn State Football’s season opener:
Game Info:
Date: September 4, 2021
Location: Madison, Wisconsin – Camp Randall Stadium
Kickoff: 12:00 PM EST
Below are the betting lines according to WynnBet:
Spread: Wisconsin -4.5
Money line: Penn State +170 Wisconsin -200
Over/Under: 52.0
And before we dive into our thoughts on this, let’s take a look at the recent history between Penn State and Wisconsin on the gridiron.
Record since 1953 against Wisconsin:
Penn State 10-9
Last five meetings at Wisconsin:
Penn State 2-3
11/30/2013 – Penn State 31 Wisconsin 24
11/26/2011 – Penn State 7 Wisconsin 45
10/11/2008 – Penn State 48 Wisconsin 7
11/04/2006 – Penn State 3 Wisconsin 13
09/25/2004 – Penn State 3 Wisconsin 16
Last five meetings overall:
Penn State 4-1
11/10/2018 – Wisconsin 10 Penn State 22
12/03/2016 – Wisconsin 31 Penn State 38 (B1G Championship Game)
11/30/2013 – Penn State 31 Wisconsin 24
11/24/2012 – Wisconsin 21 Penn State 24 (OT – bunch of fighters*)
11/26/2011 – Penn State 7 Wisconsin 45
Okay, now onto the gas bag portion of the article … My thoughts.
Has Penn State Football faired pretty well recently against a tough, hard-nosed team who’s had upper level talent on both sides of the ball and NFL caliber running backs seemingly every season? Yeah, they have. Which is kind of surprising considering this counted several of the sanction years.
Is the good play against Wisconsin going to continue, and is Penn State Football going to add to its existing four game winning streak against the Badgers? Let me answer this a little later.
Regardless of the coach, players, and decade, Penn State Football, for whatever reason, has always seemed to sleep walk through the first half of B1G road games with a noon kick. And until I see it with my own two eyes (or four, depending on how many cocktails have been consumed) I’m not going to expect anything differently here.
And how does Wisconsin typically beat teams? They attempt to pound the opposing defense into a puddle and secure an early lead. Once they secure an early lead they continue the running game onslaught to keep the clock running and to keep the ball out of the hands of the opposing team’s offense.
Rinse and repeat.
Oh, and Wisconsin also has a dynamic signal caller at QB in sophomore Graham Mertz. In seven games last season (2020), Mertz completed 61% of his passes for 1,238 yards, nine TD’s, and five INT’s. So they can sling it around the yard if necessary.
Now let’s take a look at the Nittany Lions.
How does everyone feel coming off their 4-5 campaign from the 2020 season? Confident? Quietly hopeful? Conservatively pessimistic? All of the above?
Yeah, same here.
Now let’s factor in the quarterback play we’ve seen so far in Sean Clifford’s career, a new Offensive Coordinator, the above average play of talented and experienced offensive lines, a young receiving group lead by a standout, a defensive line filled with question marks, and a defense which got shredded by several teams including Maryland last season.
Add all of this up and it’s pretty easy to see why the wise guys have Penn State as a 4.5 point underdog on the road for a noon kickoff. I’m honestly surprised the line wasn’t higher but by keeping it below -5, I’m sure there will be plenty of money bet on Penn State to cover.
As far as the result? Ask me at about 3:37pm on September 4th.
* – We all know this was “fighters”, right? Sure. That’s what he said.