January 1 1:00 ABC Capital One Bowl - Penn State vs. LSU

Mixing things up and starting with the Penn State-LSU previews to hopefully recover from a 0-2 start on my SEC bowl predictions. 9-3 LSU would’ve likely been in the BCS if there wasn’t a rule that only two teams from a conference could get in. An exchange of questionable excessive celebrations overshadowed running back Charles Scott’s game-winning 33-yard touchdown with less than a minute to go in LSU’s 20-13 road win over Georgia. Following a disappointing 13-3 home loss to Florida in which the Tigers only managed 162 yards of total offense, LSU responded with the opening 24 points in a 31-10 win against Auburn.

LSU took a 15-10 lead into the fourth quarter at Alabama, but the eventual National Champion participant scored 11 unanswered to regain a 21-15 lead. An apparent Patrick Peterson interception would’ve given LSU one final chance at the upset bid, but he was ruled out of bounds and Alabama’s Leigh Tiffin kicked a 40-yard field goal, preserving a 24-15 victory.

LSU’s match-up with Ole Miss appeared to be a defacto Capital One Bowl play-in game and when the time ran out on Les Miles and his driving offense in a 25-23 loss in Oxford, but when Ole Miss disappointed in a 41-27 loss at Mississippi State, LSU had yet another chance at spending New Year’s in Orlando. In what was probably the game of the year in the SEC, LSU defeated Arkansas 33-30 on a late, well orchestrated fourth quarter scoring drive and in overtime, this year’s Chinese Bandits forced a missed 36-yard field goal in the first overtime.

Prediction time now: In their two biggest games of the year, both in Happy Valley, Penn State collapsed in a 21-10 loss to Iowa and then dropped a 24-7 decision to Ohio State. While LSU didn’t fare much better in the win-loss column, the Tigers were more competitive in their losses to Florida and Alabama and the Auburn and Georgia wins are more impressive than any of Ohio State’s.

Coupled with this year’s results, Les Miles’s LSU teams have outscored football powerhouses Miami, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Georgia Tech a combined 157-44 en route to a 4-0 bowl record over the last four years. If this was a regular season game with the normal week of preparation, Penn State would have the advantage, but given more than a month of preparation LSU’s talent, particularly on the defensive side of the ball, will showcase itself in a mild Vegas upset.