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ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Rece Davis pick Penn State-Purdue B1G battle in Week 1
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A good Thursday matchup begins Week 1 in the B1G. The Penn State Nittany Lions are set to travel to West Lafayette for a date with the Purdue Boilermakers. This is a pretty big crossover conference game to start the season.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel and Rece Davis recently gave their thoughts on the game.
“A salty little game here,” said Thamel. “Vegas is good at their job because I don’t have a ton of conviction…My favorite part of this matchup is you have probably the biggest gunslinging offensive coach in Jeff Brohm going up against the biggest gunslinger defensive play caller in Manny Diaz.”
According to DraftKings, the line for the game has hovered from 3 to 3.5 points in favor of Penn State. The Nittany Lions are looking to rebound from a mediocre 7-6 season with quarterback Sean Clifford under center. Clifford threw for 3,107 yards and 21 touchdowns to 8 interceptions a season ago.
“I’m going to take Penn State to win and cover with Sean Clifford back,” said Thamel.
Davis had a different take.
“I think that big giant drum is going to be beaten on a little bit more,” said Davis. I’ll not only take the points, I’ll take Purdue to win the game at home. Thursday night opener outright. I’ll take Boiler Up.”
After going 9-4 last season, a win by Purdue would be huge against a traditional powerhouse. The Boilers are hoping Aidan O’Connell can ride them to a huge victory.