Penn State in the College Football Playoff rankings: Where are the Lions in the top 25 now?
Penn State has moved up again in the College Football Playoff rankings. The Lions are now inside the top 10 at No. 8 after beating Michigan State 35-16 last Saturday to finish the regular season at 10-2.
“Honestly, it doesn’t even feel real,” Lions defensive end Nick Tarburton said of his team hitting the double-digit win mark in the regular season.
“It’s good to get back to where we know Penn State should be and that’s where Penn State should be every single year, double-digit wins and playing in big games.”
Added defensive tackle PJ Mustipher when asked if this version of the Lions is playing its best football of his five years in State College over the course of a four-game November winning streak:
“Yeah, I tell them all the time. Guys don’t understand it because they’re young. Once they get to where we are as seniors, they’ll understand that it’s not easy to do well. Even in 2019 I don’t think we were blowing out teams like that. We probably had more talent, if not the same talent that year as we did this year. So, it’s no easy thing to do. And this is some of the best football I’ve seen played here. But that’s just who we are.”
This is the first time Penn State is in the CFP top 10 since 2019. Back then, it appeared at Nos. 4, 9, 8, 10, and 10 before beating Memphis in that season’s Cotton Bowl.
Assessing the Penn State bowl picture
A top-10 Penn State team is again expected to play in the Cotton Bowl, which is scheduled for Jan. 2 this year in Dallas, Tex. Bowl predictions were unanimously in favor of that. Here’s a rundown:
Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach, ESPN: Penn State vs. Tulane in the Cotton Bowl (Jan. 2)
Richard Johnson, SI: PSU vs. Tulane in the Cotton Bowl
Jerry Palm, CBS Sports: Penn State vs. Tulane in the Cotton Bowl
Brett McMurphy, Action Network: PSU vs. Tulane in the Cotton Bowl
Bill Bender, Sporting News: Penn State vs. Tulane in the Cottom Bowl
College Football News: PSU vs. Tulane in the Cotton Bowl
Erick Smith, USA Today: Penn State vs. Tulane in the Cotton Bowl
However, as Scott Dochterman and Stewart Mandel point out at The Athletic, it is by no means set in stone.
“There’s much more to the committee’s job than determining the four Playoff teams. How it ranks and structures the remaining New Year’s Six games determines which teams are available to each conference’s contract bowls. If the Rose Bowl prefers Penn State to Ohio State, for instance, the Buckeyes could end up in the Orange Bowl, which means the Big Ten forfeits its ReliaQuest (formerly Outback) Bowl spot to the ACC. The ReliaQuest then selects first among available ACC teams, which alters the bowl lineups for two conferences.”
A final answer will be had on Sunday, when the final CFP rankings plus bowl selections are revealed.
