Penn State to the TicketCity Bowl: A Guide to the Matchup vs. Houston

Penn State will play their first bowl game without Joe Paterno on the sidelines for the first time since the 1948 Cotton Bowl Classic, which ended in a tie with SMU.

So, imagine the irony of sorts in learning that Penn State will return to the Cotton Bowl Stadium to take on Case Keenum and the Houston Cougars in the TicketCity Bowl.

Here is a first look at Penn State's bowl opponent.

Bowl Information

Who: Penn State (9-3) vs. Houston (12-1)

When: January 2, 2012

Kickoff: 12 p.m. (ET)

TV: ESPNU

Payout: Reported at $2.2 million

Penn State's Strength

There is no doubt that Penn State's strength is their defense. Although it looked to leak some oil or run out of gas against Wisconsin, the Nittany Lions had done a great job all season long in managing to keep the team in every game and give the offense a chance to win just about every week of the season.

Penn State's overall defense ranks 10th in the nation, allowing an average of 300.9 yards per game, while the scoring defense ranks fifth in the nation, allowing 15.7 points per game.

Houston's Strength

When you talk about Houston, you are talking about offense. Houston's offense is the best in the nation by the numbers, scoring a nation-leading 50.8 points per game and passing for 443.8 yards per game, which is roughly 57 more yards per game than the nation's second-best passing offense (Oklahoma State).

Case Keenum is the NCAA all-time leader in passing yards and has shattered a number of offensive records in his sixth year of eligibility. While Keenum is a passing machine, Penn State will have a defense that is stronger than any he has faced this season.

Penn State's Weakness

There is no denying that the biggest inconsistency in Penn State's team has been the offense this season, and, more specifically, the biggest problem has been at the most critical position on the field: the quarterback.

Penn State's passing offense is almost a polar opposite of Houston's, ranked 96th in the nation and just nine passing touchdowns this season to Houston's 51. If the game turns in to a shootout, it certainly would not seem to favor Penn State.

Houston's Weakness

While Houston is all about the offense, they have plenty of room to grow on defense. The nation's 64th-ranked defense allowed 386.4 yards per game, which was fifth in Conference USA. The rushing defense for Houston is the weaker of the two areas on defense, allowing 171.77 yards per game on the ground to opposing offenses.

For the sake of comparison for Penn State fans, Houston's defensive numbers fall somewhere between Iowa or Nebraska and Purdue or Northwestern in rushing defense. All of those schools were in the bottom half of the Big Ten in rushing defense this season.

In terms of overall defense, Houston's numbers are most similar to Purdue and Iowa. Penn State defeated both during the regular season.

How Penn State Got Here

Penn state's season has been quite the journey, both on and off the field. The season opened with a quarterback controversy and ended amid controversy of a real-life nature.

Penn State opened the season at home, with Rob Bolden taking the starting job and Matt McGloin coming in on an alternating basis. The Nittany Lions handled FCS Indiana State, 41-7, before a big game at home against Alabama, who will be playing for the BCS National Championship against LSU.

After losing to the Crimson Tide, Penn State won seven straight games, starting in Philadelphia against Temple and finishing against Illinois in a snowy game. Along the way, Joe Paterno picked up a milestone win as the all-time leader in coaching victories in Division One, and a key revenge game against Iowa set the tone for the rest of the season—or so we thought.

After defeating Illinois in a second revenge win from 2010 and entering the bye week with a record of 8-1 and an unblemished Big Ten record, Penn State was starting to feel pretty good about making a trip to Pasadena.

Then everything went down the drain in many aspects.

A damning sexual molestation investigation into former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky rocked Penn State's football program, university and community with ties to the school's administration—from the president and athletics director to head coach Joe Paterno and assistant coach Mike McQueary. The scandal resulted in the unceremonious ending of Paterno's coaching career and the naming of longtime assistant and defensive coordinator Tom Bradley as interim coach.

Penn State returned to the field against Nebraska in a surreal environment. It was their second loss of the season, but the team remained in position to control their own destiny to get to the Big Ten Championship game.

A win at Ohio State set the stage for a Leaders Division showdown at Wisconsin for the right to advance to the first Big Ten Championship game. That is where Penn State's regular season came to an end and the waiting game to learn where they would play next commenced.

How Houston Got Here

Houston had to work their way up the Top 25 rankings all season. Everybody knew they would pack a punch in passing offense while they had to answer critics about their defense and running game. Right from the start, the rare sixth year of eligibility granted by the NCAA to quarterback Case Keenum did not go to waste.

Keenum began his march to the NCAA all-time passing record by exacting his own personal revenge in the season opener against UCLA. The Bruins were the team that prematurely ended his 2010 season with a knee injury, and thus Houston's BCS-busting dreams. This year, Houston held on for a 38-34 victory at home and set the tone for the remainder of the regular season.

Houston had few close calls along the way, but managed to pull out victories against Louisiana Tech (35-34) on the road and at UTEP (49-42) on their way to a 12-0 regular season.

This past weekend, Houston hosted Southern Mississippi in the Conference USA Championship game but—despite being the big favorites—the Cougars were upset on their home field by one of the better defenses they faced all season long. Southern Miss clinched the Conference USA Championship with a 49-28 defeat of the Cougars, dropping Houston from the Top 10 in the BCS standings all the way down to 19th.

Penn State's Key Player

This looks like a good matchup for Penn State's running game, so look for sophomore tailback Silas Redd to have a big day on the ground. Redd was the Big Ten's fourth leading rusher, placing behind Wisconsin's Montee Ball and two others. Redd struggled down the stretch after a heavier workload this season, but with some time off and a matchup that appears to favor Penn State's offensive line, Redd could have plenty of room to run wild against the Cougars.

Also, look for senior Stephfon Green to have a significant impact in his final game in a Penn State uniform. If Green and Redd have a solid offensive line in front of them, Penn State's running game could wear down Houston's defense rather quickly.

Houston's Key Player

This one is easy: If not for Case Keenum, who knows if anyone is even talking about Houston this season. Keenum is the nation's leading passer with 5,099 yards and 45 touchdown passes, and he has been intercepted just five times all season long. (Matt McGloin threw five interceptions in the Outback Bowl alone a season ago.)

Keenum completed 71.7 percent of his passes this season and averaged a nation-leading 392.2 passing yards per game.

The good news for Penn State is that they own the nation's fifth-best passing defense, and Keenum's top passing defense faced this season was ranked 35th (East Carolina). Five defenses Houston faced this season were ranked 100th or worse in the nation and—other than East Carolina—no passing defense finished higher than 59th in the nation (SMU).

Early Prediction

This could be a tough game, but Penn State has a distinct advantage when running the ball and on defense. In a bowl game, with extra time to prepare, that should give Penn State an overall advantage against a one-dimensional team like Houston.

Extra conditioning may be key as well, because Penn State's secondary is going to have a long day and the linebackers will be tested non-stop over the middle of the field, with Keenum checking for his tight ends on occasion.

We will take more time to break this game down in more detail, and the prediction may change as a result, but the first early, gut-reaction prediction in this game is Penn State finding a way to drive through Houston's defense in a win.

Penn State 38, Houston 36.

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