Penn State goes from favorite to underdog against Clemson; what's the latest point spread?

Penn State opened as a 1.5-point favorite over Clemson back on Sunday night at BetMGM for the teams’ Pinstripe Bowl meeting. However, the odds board has now changed. As of Wednesday morning, interim head coach Terry Smith’s Nittany Lions are now a 3.5-point underdog. The betting total over/under is 48.5 points. Kickoff is at Noon ET on Dec. 27. ABC will televise the game.

Both teams are likely going to be missing several starters due to opt-outs. As of the time of this writing, Tigers’ star defender Peter Woods has declared for the NFL Draft. So has Penn State defensive tackle Zane Durant. Others will surely follow. And, we assume this initial live movement is due to bettors thinking Penn State will be impacted more than their ACC counterpart in the end. Time will tell.

“Super thankful that I have the opportunity to represent my university that I played for,” Smith said on Tuesday. “I was uniquely a part of the first time we played against Clemson back in the Citrus Bowl of January 1988. We’ve only played them two times, and I’m like the common denominator to playing them.

“Just looking forward to getting to meet Coach Swinney. I have so much respect for him and his program that he’s run. He does it the right way. You know, we’re in such a volatile time in our game of how to conduct business, and he’s one of the ones that has set the standard of how to do it and get it done. So much respect there.

“Just excited, you know, for our fan base that we already are very strong in the northeast corridor and especially in New York City. Just looking forward to such a matchup against a historic team of Clemson’s nature.”

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Added Clemson coach Dabo Swinney:

“This is a bowl that I have always kept my eye on. I mean, what a unique opportunity to be able to play a football game in Yankee Stadium. This is an opportunity that we have not had in my tenure as the head coach, and so just really excited about taking our team. I know we’ll have a lot of kids on the team that have never been to New York, so for them to have an opportunity to not only go to an iconic city, but to play in a historic stadium and with so much tradition and also to bring Tiger Football up there where we have a huge alumni base, just really excited about it.

“And then the fact that you get to play a national power like Penn State is a really special opportunity.”