Despite a 2014 regular season full of ups and downs, the Penn State Nittany Lions are going bowling for the eighth-straight season that they've been eligible to do so. It's time to get your plane tickets and best PSU gear together as we look at the 3 most likely opponents for Penn State this bowl season.
Duke
Before you roll your eyes at the possibility of a Duke/Penn State bowl matchup, it would be a good thing to look at what Duke head coach David Cutcliffe has done with the program. Duke is going to a third-straight bowl game for the first time in program history, and the fans in Cameron, North Carolina are starting to notice.
Having these two storied institutions go at it with Yankee Stadium as the game's backdrop could end up creating one of the sneaky-good bowl games of this postseason, and Duke's disappointment over losing a chance at the Orange Bowl could make them prime pickings for an upset.
USC
If Maryland doesn't rise up and take the Foster Farms Bowl slot, Penn State will likely travel west to face a young (and offensively-gifted) USC squad at the San Francisco 49ers' new stadium in Santa Clara. Penn State fans travel well, so USC's partisan advantage won't be as huge as people might think. The Foster Farms Bowl might be a bit of a stretch right now, but Penn State's brand and some help could get them the nod.
North Carolina
If it's not Duke that Penn State lands in the Pinstripe Bowl, it could very well be the Blue Devils' natural rival, the North Carolina Tar Heels. The Tar Heels finished 6-6 on the campaign, but have a top-20 passing offense (entering Saturday's play) and a defense that is opportunistic enough to be dangerous. This could be a fun one, especially if PSU head coach James Franklin lets things fly and we get a (perhaps unexpected) shootout.
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