Penn State Football Bowl Projections Hold Steady Following Win

Penn State closes out the regular season this weekend facing Michigan State in a battle for the Land Grant Trophy and a chance to finish the year with eight wins while looking for a ninth in the postseason. Where the Nittany Lions are headed could change quite a bit with a win over the Spartans but for right now it’s looking like a battle between Nashville and Las Vegas.

While the where might be coming into focus, the who Penn State might face is very much up for debate.

Action Sports: Las Vegas Bowl vs UCLA (10:30 p.m. EST, Dec. 30)

Penn State is still holding on to an outside chance of a trip to Vegas this postseason and UCLA wouldn’t be the worst name-brand program to face in that game. The Bruins are a bit of a shell of their former selves as a program but are coming off a 62-33 win over USC last weekend and a 44-20 win over Colorado the week prior to that. UCLA will face Sandy Barbour’s old stomping grounds in Cal over the weekend.

247 Sports: Las Vegas Bowl vs Arizona State

Arizona State has held steady as a possible postseason opponent for nearly a month now and that’s still the case this week in Vegas. The Sun Devils beat Washington two weeks ago but lost to Oregon State this past weekend 24-10. Arizona State faces Arizona for the final game of the regular season.

Sports Illustrated: Music City Bowl (Nashville) vs Auburn (3 p.m. EST, Dec. 30)

A trip to Nashville has been a popular postseason option for Penn State for a while now and that has only gotten stronger with a week left to go in the regular season. It remains to be seen how interested the bowl committee would be in having a rematch game from earlier in the season but at least the first game was a good one.

CBS Sports: Music City Bowl vs Missouri

Missouri is coming off an overtime win against Florida this past weekend but has not done a whole ton of note this year in SEC. This would give Penn State a unique postseason opponent given the fact the two programs have only faced off on four occasions all-time, but the Tigers have struggled all year – then again so has Penn State.

ESPN: Music City Bowl vs Arkansas

If we’re talking about a team that gives Penn State an interesting and somewhat nationally relevant opponent, facing Arkansas seems like the best bet of the bunch. The Razorbacks lost 42-35 this past weekend to Alabama and upended LSU the week prior in overtime. Arkansas lost to Auburn in the terms of comparison for a common Penn State opponent but have otherwise been a fun team to watch in the SEC this year. They’re in the bottom of the SEC West right now, but a bit more entertaining than their standings.

ESPN: Pinstripe Bowl (New York City) vs Virginia (2:15 p.m. EST, Dec. 29)

Virginia suffers from existing in a conference that nobody really watches outside of Pitt and Clemson fans on any given year but the Cavaliers are currently second in the Coastal Division having just lost 48-38 to Kenny Pickett and Pitt. Virginia also fell 28-3 to Notre Dame earlier in the year. This group gave up 66 to BYU this season as well but did beat Illinois 42-14 way back in September. The Pinstripe Bowl is a fun game, just not the warmest of destinations.