Penn State (10-2) vs Ole Miss (10-2)
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta
Dec. 30, noon, ESPN
The Penn State Nittany Lion football team just completed its fifth double-digit-win season under head coach James Franklin with a 10-2 record and a bid to play in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta against No. 11 Ole Miss.
The Peach Bowl this year will be Penn State’s fifth New Year’s Six bowl game under Franklin, and it follows the Nittany Lions’ stirring 35-21 victory over Utah in the 2022 Rose Bowl.
This year’s record included final regular-season rankings of No. 10 in the AP and AFCA Coaches Polls and No. 10 in the College Football Playoff Rankings.
The Nittany Lions were ranked No. 1 in the nation in total defense and gave up just 16 touchdowns and 223.2 yards per game.
Their two losses came in disappointing close decisions to Ohio State and Michigan, and the team finished third in the Big Ten East.
All of that will be changing, however, in 2024, with a new alignment in the Big Ten and new teams entering from the old Pac 12.
Penn State’s schedule next year will feature UCLA, USC, Washington, Ohio State and Wisconsin, but no Michigan and no Big Ten East.
Before all of that comes to pass, however, there is still some football to be played in 2023.
Ole Miss will come into the Peach Bowl with as much to prove, if not more, than Penn State.
The Rebels completed a 10-2 season in the SEC and had impressive wins over LSU, 55-49; Arkansas, 27-20; Auburn, 28-21; Texas A&M, 38-35; and Mississippi State, 17-7.
Their only losses came at the hands of archrivals Alabama (24-10 on Sept. 23) and Georgia (52-17 on Nov. 11), the two teams that have dominated SEC play in recent years.
Other than those two games, head coach Lane Kiffin and his team ran the table.
Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart led the offense with 208 completions in 318 attempts (65%) for 2,985 yards and 20 touchdowns. He also ran 111 times for 377 yards and seven touchdowns while throwing just five interceptions.
Quinshon Judkins was the top rusher on the team with 237 carries for 1,052 yards and 15 touchdowns, with Ulysses Bentley IV adding 521 yards and four touchdowns.
Possibly most troubling for Penn State may be the Ole Miss receiving corps. The Rebels’ top three receivers are all top caliber, with Tre Harris leading the way with 47 catches for 851 yards and eight touchdowns.
Dayton Wade came in with 52 catches for 769 yards and four touchdowns, while Jordan Watkins had 53 catches for 741 yards and three touchdowns.
That trio could cause major headaches for the Lion defense, especially if there are opt-outs in the PSU secondary, which is a possibility.
Defensively, Ole Miss plays aggressively with 34 sacks, 12 interceptions and four fumble recoveries.
In all, Ole Miss gained 5467 yards, an average of 455 per game, and scored 34.8 points per game.
That production will be matched against Penn State’s No. 1 defense, but there are caveats.
Defensive end Chop Robinson has already announced he will miss the bowl game and enter the NFL draft, but other official decisions have yet to come out.
Cornerbacks Kalen King and Johnny Dixon as of this writing had not announced a decision, along with OL Caedan Wallace and Sal Wormley and receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith.
But draft-eligible Theo Johnson, OL All-American Olu Fashanu, Adisa Isaac, Tyler Warren, CB Daequan Hardy, LB Curtis Jacobs, center Hunter Nourzad and DT Dvon Ellies have said they will travel to Atlanta.
For Penn State, there are other changes. Both the offensive and defensive coordinators have been replaced, and their jobs will be handled by the present staff.
New OC Andy Kotelnicki, from Kansas, and new DC Tom Allen, from Indiana, will both be observing, of course, but neither will be calling plays in the game.
After the loss to Michigan on Nov. 11 at home (24-15), Penn State rebounded with two solid wins: 27-6 over Rutgers and 42-0 over Michigan State.
Against Michigan State, the Lions seemed to return to their old form with 283 rushing yards and 303 passing yards against the Spartans.
The game was close early — 13-0 at the half — but Penn State asserted itself in the third quarter with two touchdowns and sprinted in from there.
Quarterback Drew Allar threw for 292 yards and two touchdowns, while Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton combined to run for 256 yards and a touchdown.
All the while, the Penn State defense was holding MSU to 53 total yards and five first downs.
It was the kind of performance on both sides of the ball that the Nittany Lions will need to duplicate against Ole Miss in the bowl game.
