Staff picks: final Penn State Football predictions for 2022

Staff Picks: final Penn State Football record and bowl predictions for 2022

STATE COLLEGE, PA - SEPTEMBER 25: A detailed view of a Nike football with Penn State Nittany Lions logo on the field during the second half of the game between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Villanova Wildcats at Beaver Stadium on September 25, 2021 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /

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Ji’Ayir Brown #16 of the Penn State Nittany Lions (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) /

Evan Smith (basketball contributor)

Everyone is down on Penn State Football, but there’s not a chance this isn’t a top 25 team in the nation right now.

Everyone is down on Sean Clifford right now, distracted by the next shiny thing (or Canadian one), but he had us top 10 in the nation and dominating Iowa before his injury. We all know what happened from there.

You can’t pay for that type of experience. Nothing is going to rattle him, including opening at Purdue (he did that last year vs a harder opponent in the Badgers), or going to Auburn or Michigan.

Unfortunately, this is a tough schedule, no doubt about that. We’ll know really quick if this team has the makings of something special. If we’re 3-0 a month from now, buckle up, we’re going to have some fun. If we’re 1-2, fire up the #FireFranklin tweets.

I actually see us starting 3-0, losing at home to OSU and losing respectfully in Ann Arbor (although I think we’re a better team than them this year). Could we drop another annoying one along the way? Honestly, yeah, but I’ll stick with 10-2 and an outside berth at a NY6 Bowl, but more likely a solid New Year’s Day bowl game.

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