No. 10 Penn State will play No. 11 Ole Miss in Peach Bowl on Dec. 30 [updated]

Dec. 3—Penn State will make its fifth appearance in a New Year’s Six bowl in eight years when the 10th-ranked Nittany Lions take on No. 11 Ole Miss in the 56th Peach Bowl, it was announced Sunday.

The game is scheduled for noon on Dec. 30 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and will be televised by ESPN.

Penn State (10-2) has never played in the Peach Bowl and has never played the Rebels (10-2), who are coached by Lane Kiffin and making their first appearance in the bowl since 2014.

“We couldn’t be more excited to be part of this unbelievable matchup and to play a great university and program like Penn State,” Kiffin said, “and Coach (James) Franklin and all the success and the great players that he’s had there.

“We couldn’t be more excited about this bowl game and this matchup and about coming to Atlanta.”

In Kiffin’s fourth season in Oxford, Ole Miss tied for second in the Southeastern Conference West with a 6-2 conference record, losing only to Alabama (24-17) and Georgia (52-17). The Rebels’ best wins have come against Tulane (37-20), LSU (55-49) and Texas A&M (38-35).

Quarterback Jaxon Dart has completed 65.4% of his passes for 2,985 yards and 20 touchdowns with five interceptions. He’s been sacked 26 times.

Sophomore running back Quinshon Judkins has carried 237 times for 1,052 yards (4.4 average) and 15 touchdowns.

Ole Miss ranks 11th in pass efficiency, 15th nationally in total offense, 19th in scoring (34.8), 26th in passing and 40th in rushing.

“Sometimes when you’re sitting around the hotel you get to watch a few games or maybe just a few highlights,” Franklin said. “We do have some guys that we both recruited that are either on our team or on their team that we’re familiar with, specifically their tailback (Judkins), who we have a ton of respect for.”

Penn State finished third in the Big Ten East at 7-2 with…


Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/no-10-penn-state-play-045000454.html

Author : Reading Eagle, Pa.

Publish date : 2023-12-04 04:50:00

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