Penn State Nittany Lions vs Purdue Boilermakers Prediction, Odds and Picks for Saturday, 11/16/24

As the season comes down to its final games, the Penn State Nittany Lions have their eyes on a playoff home game. The path is there for Penn State with their final three games being against Minnesota, Maryland, and the game this weekend against the 1-8 Purdue Boilermakers. Purdue has had a rough season with only one win. They are coming off a 45-0 loss at Ohio State last week. But even considering all that, Purdue’s football program has earned the nickname the “Spoilermakers” with 17 all-time wins against teams ranked in the top 5 while being unranked themselves. Purdue will have quite a mountain to climb in this game, coming in as 4 touchdown underdogs at home.

The question revolving around Penn State is ‘are these Nittany Lions good enough to compete for a national championship?’ Last year Penn State ended their season ranked 13th in the nation, but lost in the Peach Bowl to Ole Miss. Since that game, the Nittany Lions have improved on both sides of the ball. The question for Penn State always seems to fall on their play at quarterback, but even Drew Allar has found ways to improve this year. Allar has thrown for 2006 yards and 13 touchdowns this season, but the most impressive improvement he made was his completion percentage. Allar has completed well over 70% of his passes this season compared to only 60% last season. Penn State is clearly the better team this week, but I believe there is a chance they will overlook Purdue on the road. Despite the record, Purdue is not void of talent. They are led by senior quarterback Hudson Card and will be playing hard just to have something bright to look upon from the 2024 season. I have Purdue covering this large spread on their home field.

Purdue +28.5 available at the time of publishing. Playable at that number.