Penn State Nittany Lions (11-1) vs. Oregon Ducks (12-0)
December 7, 2024 8:00 pm EDT
The Line: Oregon Ducks -3.5 / Penn State Nittany Lions +3.5; Over/Under: +49.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Penn State Nittany Lions and the Oregon Ducks meet Saturday in Big Ten Championship Game college football action from Lucas Oil Stadium. Here’s an Oregon vs Penn State prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Oregon vs Penn State pick.
Penn State Nittany Lions Betting Preview
The Nittany Lions’ season began with wins over West Virginia, Bowling Green, Kent State, Illinois, UCLA, USC and Wisconsin in succession. After a loss to Ohio State, Penn State took out Washington, Purdue, Minnesota and Maryland in the next quartet.
Last weekend versus Maryland, Penn State didn’t have too many issues. The Lions scored 28 points in the second quarter alone during a 44-7 blowout win. Drew Allar threw for 171 yards and a TD. Nicholas Singleton carried 13 times for 87 yards and two scores of his own.
Oregon Ducks Betting Preview
Over on the Ducks’ side, it’s been smooth sailing in an undefeated 12-game run so far. Those wins have come over Idaho, Boise State, Oregon State, UCLA, Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue, Illinois, Michigan, Maryland, Wisconsin and Washington.
In the Washington game on Saturday, the Ducks were up 28-14 by halftime and rolled to a 49-21 finish. Dillon Gabriel posted 209 pass yards with two scores and a rush TD. Leading the ground game was Jordan James with 99 yards and two scores off 15 carries.
Oregon vs Penn State Prediction
I’m going to take a stab on Penn State. This should be a great matchup either way, though. The Nittany Lions played a pretty easy overall game versus a struggling Maryland team last weekend, notching 24 first downs and 412 total yards (219 rushing) with plenty of garbage time in the second half. Since their seven-point loss to Ohio State on November 2, Penn State has had only one close finish (26-25 at Minnesota) and scored 35 or more points in the other three.
As for Oregon, they’ve had a few close finishes themselves this year, specifically games versus Wisconsin, Ohio State and Boise State—all decided by three points or fewer. The Ducks have had enough second-half resilience to pull out victories in those tight matchups, so they’ll be very well-equipped if this game goes down to the wire as well. Oregon has scored 31 or more points in 10 of their last 11 games so this one’s got the potential to be a shootout. All things considered I like Penn State’s defense to slow down the Ducks just well enough to cover, but it’ll likely be a close one. Don’t miss this matchup.
