Paul Finebaum predicts Penn State will miss College Football Playoff after Oregon loss

No. 6 Oregon defeated No. 3 Penn State 30-24 in double overtime on Saturday, providing the Nittany Lions with its first loss of the season. But is one loss too many for James Franklin’s squad.

According to Paul Finebaum, the answer is yes. He believes Saturday’s loss is the beginning of the end for Penn State and its hopes of being a national championship contender — let alone make the College Football Playoff.

“They just don’t have the schedule anymore,” Finebaum said during SportsCenter on Sunday morning. “And you know why? They played Nevada, Florida International and Villanova, while other schools like Ohio State were playing Texas, Alabama was playing Florida State and Michigan was playing Oklahoma.

“It just will not help them playing a ridiculously easy schedule. They can’t win big games. And quite frankly, right now, if they lose to Ohio State, they also have Indiana, which may be a ranked opponent, they don’t deserve to be in the College Football Playoff.”

The Big Ten, while playing a nine-game conference schedule, does not require Penn State to play another power conference opponent during its non-conference schedule. Instead, the Nittany Lions were untested through their first three games of the season with the first real test coming against the reigning Big Ten champions.

Penn State will play Ohio State and Indiana in consecutive weeks to begin November. With its loss coming against another top 10 team, not to mention being in overtime, it’s unlikely the Nittany Lions will fall off too far in the upcoming AP Top 25 Poll. If their schedule is as easy as Finebaum claims, there’s no reason why Penn State can’t be 6-1 heading into those pivotal matchups.

The matchup against the Buckeyes — on the road — will come on Saturday, Nov. 1. Meanwhile, the first CFP rankings of the season will drop on Tuesday, Nov. 4. Penn State will host Indiana that weekend.

While the loss doesn’t end Penn State’s CFP hopes by any stretch, Finebaum’s comments highlights the struggles the Nittany Lions have had under James Franklin. He dropped to 4-21 against top 10 opponents after the loss, and 15-30 against teams in the top 25.

Despite making it all the way to the national semifinal one year ago, the results during the regular season have kept the Nittany Lions in the shadow of teams like Ohio State, and now Oregon.

Penn State has two straight opportunities to prove their doubters wrong coming up in roughly a month’s time. First, they’ll look to bounce back against UCLA this weekend on the road.