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Today's top games to watch, best bets, odds: Penn State at Northwestern, Pitt at Virginia Tech, NHL and more

Friday night marks the opening of the newly constructed Ryan Field, serving as the fresh home venue for the Northwestern Wildcats. The facility cost an estimated $870 million, boasts a 35,000 seat capacity featuring protective weather canopies, spans 200,000 square feet of surrounding parks and plazas, and includes dual 5,000-square-foot video screens.

For this debut matchup, the 2-1 Wildcats will host the 3-1 Penn State Nittany Lions. Both programs enter the contest following their initial defeats of the campaign, though Northwestern showed strong resilience in a narrow 29-23 defeat against top-ranked Indiana.

Meanwhile, Penn State dropped a 24-20 decision after surrendering a 17-point lead and yielding two late touchdowns to Wisconsin in the final four minutes of regulation. Despite that late-game collapse, oddsmakers have installed the Nittany Lions as 2.5-point betting favorites over the hosts.

Additional college football action on Friday includes a matchup between Liberty and Delaware, where the Delaware squad is receiving six points according to algorithmic projections.

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