What’s the initial point spread for the Penn State-Wisconsin matchup? The look-ahead lines are available for the Lions’ upcoming game.

No. 3 Penn State is currently on its last bye week of the season, while Wisconsin is gearing up for a trip to Northwestern this weekend. The two teams will face off next week in a primetime matchup on NBC, with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET at what is expected to be a sold-out Camp Randall Stadium, which has a capacity of 76,057. Ahead of game day, two sportsbooks have released early point spreads for the game.

FanDuel has established head coach James Franklin’s team as an 11.5-point favorite on the road, with the over/under set at 47.5 points, suggesting an approximate score of 29-18 in favor of the visitors. DraftKings, on the other hand, lists the Lions as a 10.5-point favorite but has not yet provided a total.

Bill Connelly’s SP+ rankings indicate that the Lions could be around two touchdowns stronger when home-field advantage for the Badgers is taken into account. Penn State holds an 11-9 lead in their all-time series against head coach Luke Fickell’s team and has won the last five matchups, including two true road victories. However, only one of those wins occurred during Franklin’s tenure, when PSU defeated Wisconsin 16-10 in Madison to kick off the 2021 season. This will be the first time the two teams have met since then.

While the focus for Penn State remains on improvement rather than rankings, Franklin was asked during his only bye week press conference about how his team manages external expectations. As expected, he stated that they choose not to dwell on it.

“We just don’t really talk about it,” Franklin explained. “We were 1-0 last week, and we appreciate that. I don’t think we’ve mentioned it even once in our building. We did discuss another team’s ranking today while showing a clip from a recent game, highlighting the effort of a player. But overall, we don’t focus on that. Those factors are beyond our control. We really don’t engage with that. Our priority is simply to keep improving.”

General view of Camp Randall Stadium during the third quarter of the game between the Penn State Nittany Lions and Wisconsin Badgers. (Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports)

“And you know, I believe our players have done a solid job of that so far. We’ll need to continue that in the upcoming week. We’re heading on the road for a night game in a tough environment, with the ‘Jump Around’ at Wisconsin and all that comes with it. It’s a really good program that’s well-coached. So, we’ll need to elevate our game this week because these road contests are quite challenging.”

Instead of focusing on the opponent, Penn State has concentrated on self-improvement this week while valuing the timing of its second bye week of the regular season.

“I believe that at this point in the season, during game six, having a bye is quite beneficial,” Franklin said. “Sometimes you end up with a bye really early, or sometimes it’s late, which may not be ideal, but this timing is just right. Plus, coming off a win definitely makes a difference in how I feel about it. With a win, there’s positive energy and good momentum. We have the opportunity to continue learning, teaching, and growing after a victory, which is an important skill for us to develop.

“As I mentioned before, you shouldn’t have to experience a setback to make progress or to show the maturity needed to work on areas for improvement. I think the coaching staff is approaching it this way, and I believe the players are as well. I thought today was a great example of that.”