Despite a 20-13 loss to Ohio State on Saturday, Penn State is firmly in the race for a debut in the 12-team College Football Playoff. The Nittany Lions are ranked No. 6 in the first College Football Playoff rankings, released Tuesday night.
If the season were to end on Tuesday, Penn State could be in position to host a first-round playoff game at Beaver Stadium. Based on ESPN’s projected bracket, that matchup would come against No. 10 Notre Dame, although that’s subject to change over the last four weeks of the regular season.
If the Nittany Lions were to beat the Fighting Irish in this hypothetical bracket, they would play No. 3 Georgia in the quarterfinals.
Penn State is one of four Big Ten teams ranked in the top 12. Oregon, to no surprise, came in at No. 1, the Buckeyes are listed at No. 2 and undefeated Indiana is ranked No. 8.
The complete College Football Playoff ranking can be found here.
James Franklin could not get past Ohio State for an eighth straight year this past weekend, but for the first time in his head coaching tenure, one loss may not define his team’s fate. That being said, Penn State will likely need to win out the regular season for a guaranteed shot at the playoff.
The Nittany Lions will host Washington (5-4) in a White Out affair on Saturday, before trips to Purdue (1-7) on Nov. 16 and Minnesota (6-3) on Nov. 23. They’ll conclude the regular season at home against Maryland (4-4) on Nov. 30.
“I think what the message is, the way I interpret the message, is that we want to play well enough to continue playing as a team and as a family as long as we possibly can,” Franklin said on Monday. “And again, in today’s college football, those things … they’re possible, they’re realistic.”
