Auburn will be tested for the first time all season this Saturday when the Tigers head north to face the Penn State Nittany Lions. Although the Tigers are an underdog, the early action has been on them, as Auburn was originally a seven-point underdog on Sunday. Bettors don’t seem to be high on the Nittany Lions offense, and James Franklin might be distracted as he is continually being listed as the top candidate for the USC job after Clay Helton’s surprise firing on Monday.
The Penn State Nittany Lions will host the Auburn Tigers at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania on Saturday, September 18, 2021, at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
College Football Betting Odds at BookMaker.eu
Auburn Tigers +4.5
Penn State Nittany Lions -4.5
Total 52.5
For the first two weeks of the season, there have been no concerns about new head coach Bryan Harsin. Auburn pummeled Akron 60-10 in its season opener and hammered Alabama State 62-0 last week. The Tigers looked great on both sides of the ball in the beatdowns, and some fans think that Bo Nix has finally figured it out.
Bo Nix has been very efficient through the first two games. He is completing 74.4% of his passes for 383 yards and five touchdowns while averaging 9.8 YPA with no turnovers. Nix has shown he can still tuck it and run when he needs to do that, and it looks like his decision making has improved.
The ground game has looked great too. Tank Bigsby has run for 241 yards and two touchdowns while averaging 10.0 YPC, and back-up Jarquez Hunter has shined even brighter with 257 yards and two touchdowns including a 94-yard TD run.
Penn State has thrived on defense after a disastrous 2020 campaign on that side of the ball. The Nittany Lions are allowing 11.5 PPG and 3.9 yards per play, and the run defense did a very good job slowing down Wisconsin in the season opener. They are hoping that they will have two players back too as defensive lineman Hakeem Beamon and safety Keaton Ellis have missed the first two games and are questionable for Saturday.
The Nittany Lions’ offense is still leaving a lot to be desired. They easily moved the ball against Ball State last week, but we saw this Penn State offense struggle mightily against Wisconsin in the season opener. Sean Clifford is still having a hard time with his accuracy, although he has two elite receivers in Jahan Dotson and Parker Washington.
Dotson has 10 catches for 167 yards and two touchdowns on the season. He has the ability to get open against quality cornerbacks, so he should be the primary passing threat once more in this game. Parker Washington has been very good too though with 10 receptions for 104 yards.
They have struggled to run the ball though. Noah Cain and Clifford are both averaging 4.2 YPC, but those numbers are buoyed by their performances against Ball State. The Nittany Lions will likely find it hard to run against the Tigers, as these defensive linemen are some of the best in the country.
Prediction
The best bet in this game is the under. Neither one of these offenses is that good, while both defenses could be top ten units by the end of the season. Nix and Clifford aren’t great quarterbacks, so both Auburn and Penn State will want to keep the ball on the ground instead of airing it out.
Penn State feels like the right side though. Franklin is a much more proven big game coach than Harsin, and the Nittany Lions already have one of the better wins of the season.
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