Penn State head coach James Franklin reacts to College Football Playoff bracket
The Penn State Nittany Lions football team will face off against SMU in the first round of the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff later this month. Penn State also hosts the first-round matchup after earning the sixth seed in the bracket. Head coach James Franklin met with the media on Sunday afternoon to preview the matchup, discuss the playoff seeding process, and more. Hear his complete comments on the Blue White Illustrated YouTube Channel, or embedded in this article.
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Penn state head coach James Franklin discusses path for his team in CFP
With the extended season, Franklin was asked about the possibility of veteran safety KJ Winston returning to the team. Franklin said that Winston won’t be back this week or for any part of the postseason run.
However, the team came out of the Big Ten Championship Game relatively healthy.
“But the other thing is, we came out of that game pretty healthy, didn’t have a whole lot of issues,” Franklin said.
“We came out of it pretty good. So I think we’re in a pretty good place. I don’t really see us getting anybody back that’s been that’s been out, but in terms of, who we played with this past week, we were able to come out of that game fairly healthy.”
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Franklin also discussed the team’s plan for the transfer portal, which opens on Monday for college football. He mentioned that he thinks his team is a week behind in understanding where his current roster sits in terms of players who plan to exit the program after the season.
More about the upcoming game
Penn State will play on TNT at Noon ET on Dec. 21. However, ESPN will handle the broadcast of the game with Mark Jones and Roddy Jones on the call. The early call is for a White Out despite the early kickoff. If Penn State were to win the opening round game, they would advance to the Fiesta Bowl to play Boise St. on Tuesday, Dec. 31.
The Nittany Lions earned the sixth seed in the playoff field by finishing fourth in the overall rankings to end the year. With the automatic bids that go to conference champions, Penn State only fell behind Texas on the way to its current seeding.
