Welcome to College Football Playoff football, folks.

Despite a shootout loss to Oregon in the Big Ten Championship, Penn State was granted the No. 5 seed in this year’s playoffs, giving the Nittany Lions a matchup in Beaver Stadium against SMU.

With just a few days until Penn State’s first playoff game, the Nittany Lions are 8.5-point favorites over SMU, according to DraftKings. The game also boasts an over/under set at 54 points and a money line set at -310 for the blue and white, making the Mustangs a +250 underdog.

Historically, Penn State is 1-0-1 against SMU, with the last matchup coming in 1978. The first contest between the two teams proved historic, as the Nittany Lions, Wally Triplett, and Dennie Hoggard faced the Mustangs in the 1948 Cotton Bowl, the first interracial bowl game played in the southern United States.

The Nittany Lions are 6-7 against the spread and the over/under so far this season according to OddsShark.

Pick Of The Week (2-1)

SMU under 21.5 total points at -125.

The Nittany Lion defense will be heading into this game with a massive chip on its shoulder after allowing 45 points to Oregon two weeks ago. The last time the blue and white allowed more than 30 points in a game was against Ohio State back in 2022. Furthermore, the forecasted high of 27º for gameday could pose difficulties for the Texas-based Mustangs, finding themselves far from home in a stadium more than three times the capacity of their own.