2010 Penn State: College Football Picks and 2011 BCS Odds

The 2010 Penn State Nittany Lions are coming off their second consecutive 11 win season and are a 60-1 longshot in college football picks at online sportsbooks to win the BCS national championship. All time winning coach Joe Paterno may be in his 80’s but has shown no signs of slowing down heading into 2011 BCS odds as he has staged a remarkable comeback after going 3-9 in 2003 and 4-7 in 2004 and is now facing fans hoping he will stay rather than demand that he retire. Penn State has won no less than 9 games per year in college football betting odds since going 11-1 in 2005.

Paterno will have 8 starters return to his offense although he will have to break in a new starting quarterback with sophomore Kevin Newsome. Senior 1st team All Big Ten running back Evan Royster will help take some heat off of Newsome as he ran for 1169 yards and 5.7 yards per carry average with 6 touchdowns last year. The defenses that allowed just 12 points per game in 2009 will have 6 new starters. The good news is that Penn State has allowed 14 points per game or less in 3 out of the last 4 seasons which is proof of their consistency in approach and with recruiting.

The Nittany Lions have a tough schedule when it comes to college football odds which will make a BCS national championship difficult to attain. They will play at defending national champion Alabama on September 11 and have Big Ten road games at Iowa and Ohio State. On the bright side they do avoid Wisconsin this year in conference play. Penn State has been something of an overlay over the past few seasons as they have finished in the black against the spread just once in the past 4 years. The Nittany Lions were a most alarming 1-6 against the spread as a home favorite in college football picks last year.