After winning ten games in the regular season once again, Penn State Nittany Lions has high hopes for the 2024 campaign.
In the early national rankings, they sit near the edges of the top ten.
A Big Ten Championship is not out of the question, and with the College Football Playoff expanding to a dozen teams, the Nittany Lions have perhaps their best shot ever at qualifying for this tournament.
The team’s season begins on Saturday, August 31, in a non-conference game at Big 12 foe West Virginia.
The Nittany Lions’ schedule keeps them away from Michigan and Michigan State, but they take on new Big Ten members USC, UCLA and Washington, along with longtime nemesis Ohio State.
What can they do this season? Read on to get our thoughts as you consider your sports betting for college football season.
College Football Betting Odds: Penn State Nittany Lions 2024 Game Schedule
- Aug. 31 at West Virginia Mountaineers
- Sept. 7 vs Bowling Green Falcons
- Sept. 14 BYE
- Sept. 21 vs Kent State Golden Flashes
- Sept. 28 vs Illinois Fighting Illini
- Oct. 5 vs UCLA Bruins
- Oct. 12 at USC Trojans
- Oct. 19 BYE
- Oct. 26 at Wisconsin Badgers
- Nov. 2 vs Ohio State Buckeyes
- Nov. 9 vs Washington Huskies
- Nov. 16 at Purdue Boilermakers
- Nov. 23 at Minnesota Golden Gophers
- Nov. 30 vs Maryland Terrapins
- Dec. 7 Big Ten Championship
Penn State Offensive
One of the top reasons to be bullish on the Nittany Lions is their tailback group.
Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton are entering their third season as co-starters. Both of them picked up momentum as 2023 drew to a close.
Third-string transfer Trey Potts left after last season to enter the NFL, so that spot on the depth chart will either go to Quinton Martin or Cam Wallace.
Singleton broke the 1,000-yard barrier in his freshman season (2022) and ran for 752 yards and eight scores, averaging 4.4 yards per attempt, last season.
He didn’t look quite as fast in 2023, but he still has breakaway velocity. Allen ran for 902 yards and six touchdowns last year.
He’s more of the power back, able to exploit narrow crevices in the line of scrimmage and fall ahead to pick up extra yards.
In the Blue-White Game, Wallace had seven attempts for 36 yards, while Martin ran the ball six times for 34 yards and a pair of sharp touchdowns.
^Nittany Lions Weakness
The other side of this coin, though, is the struggle that Penn State has had completing passes out of the backfield.
While Singleton made some big plays after the team moved to a pair of interim offensive coordinators, pass plays weren’t his forte, as he averaged only 6.2 yards per reception on 14 attempts.
Getting the ball to these tailbacks in space is an essential part to adding explosive plays to the Penn State offense.
After all, this is still a team that likes to grind the ball instead of turning the offense loose in a pass-heavy, video-game style scheme.
^Penn State is no longer the same
It’s possible, of course, that some weird intangibles have kept Penn State from elite contender status.
It’s not like Texas A&M, where the program just squanders talent on an annual basis.
Furthermore, it’s not like Wisconsin, where the talent level seems to be just a player or two away on both sides of the ball each year.
They’re on a 21-5 run right now, including a loss to Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl last winter, as well as four losses to Michigan and Ohio State.
They’ve beaten everyone else. Furthermore, they have a three-game losing streak against Michigan and a seven-game skid against Ohio State (and 11 losses to the Buckeyes in their last 12 meetings).
^Passing Yards
There’s also that idea that, in Happy Valley, the forward pass is still a trick play.
The Nittany Lions actually picked up more than 200 passing yards per game and that their offense was second in total yardage in the Big Ten, only behind Michigan.
Quarterback Drew Allar needs to get his completion rate above 60% and up his air yards.
Yes, he threw for more than 2,600 yards and 25 touchdowns against just a pair of picks, but he needs to stretch the field for the offense to be legitimately dangerous.
The wide receiver room isn’t all that exciting, with the top guy, KeAndre Lambert-Smith, transferring to Auburn. Tight end Tyler Warren should be all-Big 12 after 34 catches.
^Decisive Date for the Nittany Lions
So by the time we get to the second bye week in the Nittany Lions’ schedule, we’ll know if their offense is dangerous and if their defense is stout.
Tests against UCLA and USC will set the stage for bigger games in late October and November.
At this point, I’m waiting to see if Allar has progressed.
^#WeAre…Better #107kStrong #PSUnrivaled pic.twitter.com/ibEweUxA7n
— James Franklin (@coachjfranklin) July 9, 2024
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