Nittany Lions vs. LSU Tigers in Capital One Bowl
On New Years Day, Penn State will take the field in what could end up being the best non-BCS matchup of all bowls this holiday season. The No. 13 Nittany Lions will take on the No. 12 LSU Tigers in the Capital One Bowl at 1pm on Jan. 1 in Orlando, Fl.
This Penn State squad had faint hopes of leaping Iowa and squeaking into a BCS bowl (despite a head-to-head loss to the Hawkeyes earlier this season), but had to settle for the bowl with the top non-BCS member from the Big-10 and the SEC.
Penn State hasn’t been tested much by good teams all year, having only played one ranked team in their 12 game schedule. They lost to Iowa (then unranked, now No. 10) 21-10 in Week 4 of the season, then toiled in relative obscurity for a few weeks in the middle of the season as they kept beating up lesser Big-10 teams.
A matchup between Penn State and Ohio State at the beginning of November looked like it would go a long way in determining the Big-10 champion this year… and it did. Just not in the way Penn State fans were hoping, as the Nittany Lions sleepwalked through a 24-7 thrashing that more-or-less knocked them out of Big-10 contention.
They’ll face a LSU squad bursting with quickness, which could prove troublesome for the Nittany Lions. The SEC has dominated matchups similar to this in the past – with an offensively quick team working against a slow-paced, defensively minded team.
With Joe Pa’s 23-11-1 bowl record at risk, the Nittany Lions will be looking to add career win number 391 to Paterno’s incredible coaching resume – especially with Paterno’s nearest competition, Bobby Bowden of Florida State, stepping down at the end of this season.
