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Penn State vs. Rutgers Prediction and Odds for College Football Week 12 (Clifford and Franklin Beat the Bad Teams)

By Josh Yourish

Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Sean Clifford
Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Sean Clifford / Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports
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It’s the same old story year after year with James Franklin at Penn State. Lose to the good teams, dominate the bad teams, finish 9-3 or 10-2 and No. 15 at the Outback Bowl. Three weeks ago, it was a 44-31 loss to Ohio State, then a 45-14 win over Indiana and 30-0 win over Maryland. The Nittany Lions are 8-2 with Rutgers and Michigan State on deck. Likely another 10-win season with no shot at the playoff. 

Rutgers is 4-6 and it seems like their bowl eligibility hopes have gone away for 2022, unless they can pull off the upset of Penn State this week. Let’s look at the odds and trends for this Big 10 matchup.

Penn State vs. Rutgers Odds, Spread and Total

Rutgers and PSU Betting Trends

  • Rutgers is 5-4-1 ATS
  • Penn State is 7-3 ATS
  • The Over is 7-3 in Penn State games
  • Penn State is 4-0 ATS in last four games
  • The Under is 8-0 in last 8 meetings

Penn State vs. Rutgers Prediction and Pick

Sean Clifford’s time at Penn State will soon come to an end and personally as a Penn State fan and son of an alum, I cannot wait. The Drew Allar era can’t come soon enough, not because I know that will be great, but at least it will be different.

For the time being however, Clifford will do what he does best, beat the bad teams. Penn State has absolutely stomped the bad teams on their schedule this season. Penn State has beaten Auburn, Minnesota, Maryland, and Indiana by an average of 29.5 points this season. That excludes a very bad weather game against Northwestern that they won 17-7 and two big wins over non-power 5 teams. Purdue is the only team outside of their losses that has played the Nittany Lions close. 

Rutgers is not built to hang around with Penn State. It is solid defensively, but might not score a single point against this stout Penn State pass defense. Rutgers is 120th in the country in passing offense and if they have to throw to stay in the game they have no shot. 

Penn State will continue to stomp out the bottom of the Big 10, and James Franklin will just wait until the playoff expands to 12 teams so he can sneak in with 10 wins and get beat by an actually great team for a third time each season. It’ll be great. 

Pick: Penn State -19.5 (-110)

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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change

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