No. 10 Penn State will play No. 11 Ole Miss in Peach Bowl on Dec. 30 [updated]
Dec. 3—Penn State will make its fifth appearance in a New Year's Six bowl in eight years when the 10th-ranked Nittany Lions take on No. 11 Ole Miss in the 56th Peach Bowl, it was announced Sunday.
The game is scheduled for noon on Dec. 30 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and will be televised by ESPN.
Penn State (10-2) has never played in the Peach Bowl and has never played the Rebels (10-2), who are coached by Lane Kiffin and making their first appearance in the bowl since 2014.
"We couldn't be more excited to be part of this unbelievable matchup and to play a great university and program like Penn State," Kiffin said, "and Coach (James) Franklin and all the success and the great players that he's had there.
"We couldn't be more excited about this bowl game and this matchup and about coming to Atlanta."
In Kiffin's fourth season in Oxford, Ole Miss tied for second in the Southeastern Conference West with a 6-2 conference record, losing only to Alabama (24-17) and Georgia (52-17). The Rebels' best wins have come against Tulane (37-20), LSU (55-49) and Texas A&M (38-35).
Quarterback Jaxon Dart has completed 65.4% of his passes for 2,985 yards and 20 touchdowns with five interceptions. He's been sacked 26 times.
Sophomore running back Quinshon Judkins has carried 237 times for 1,052 yards (4.4 average) and 15 touchdowns.
Ole Miss ranks 11th in pass efficiency, 15th nationally in total offense, 19th in scoring (34.8), 26th in passing and 40th in rushing.
"Sometimes when you're sitting around the hotel you get to watch a few games or maybe just a few highlights," Franklin said. "We do have some guys that we both recruited that are either on our team or on their team that we're familiar with, specifically their tailback (Judkins), who we have a ton of respect for."
Penn State finished third in the Big Ten East at 7-2 with its only losses coming against No 1 Michigan (24-15) and No. 7 Ohio State (20-12). The Nittany Lions' best wins have come against West Virginia (38-15), Iowa (31-0), Northwestern (41-13) and Maryland (51-15).
They have an outstanding defense that ranks first in the nation in total defense and sacks, second in rushing defense and tackles for loss and third in scoring defense (11.4) and passing defense.
"I really don't get to watch much football," Kiffin said. "I don't get to see great teams like Penn State from other conferences play. I got a report from our personnel people that they have phenomenal players, a couple first-rounders on defense that I hoped Coach Franklin was going to announce were opting out."
Defensive ends Chop Robinson and Adisa Isaac and linebacker Abdul Carter were voted to the All-Big Ten first team.
"They say styles make great fights," said Gary Stokan, Peach Bowl chief executive officer. "We've got a great fight with one of the top offenses in the country and the top total defense in the country."
This is not the first Peach Bowl trip for Franklin, who was an assistant coach at Maryland in 2002 when the Terrapins beat Tennessee 30-3.
Kiffin is making his third trip to the Peach Bowl after serving as head coach at Tennessee in 2009 when the Vols lost 37-14 to Virginia Tech and as an assistant coach at Alabama in 2016 when the Crimson Tide beat Washington 24-7 in a national semifinal.
"I had a great experience the last time I was there," Franklin said. "I have a ton of respect for Ole Miss from my time in the SEC (at Vanderbilt) and then obviously for Lane. Me and Lane have known each other for a long time. I've followed his career from afar. We have a lot of friends in common as well.
"We couldn't be more excited to play in the Peach Bowl. You have two programs with such a strong brand, reputation and history."
