Another week of College Football Playoff rankings means another week of discourse surrounding Penn State’s seeding. Last week, the concern surrounded the Nittany Lions’ placement above a handful of multi-loss SEC teams. Now, it’s centered on ranking James Franklin’s squad No. 4, one spot above another team with a 10-1 record, No. 5 Notre Dame.
Warde Manuel, the selection committee chair, explained the decision after the poll was released on Tuesday night. It shouldn’t take a microscope to understand why, as of this week, Penn State is ranked ahead of the Fighting Irish, who notoriously lost at home to middle-of-the-pack MAC team Northern Illinois on Sept. 7. The Nittany Lions have only lost to No. 2 Ohio State.
“Well, there was a lot of discussion about those teams and how they had performed,” Manuel said. “Penn State’s only loss is to the No. 2 team in the country. They have a win over No. 23 Illinois. Notre Dame has a win now over No. 20 Texas A&M.”
The resumes of the Nittany Lions and Fighting Irish are objectively “pretty close,” Manuel said. Both teams have only defeated one ranked opponent, neither win against a team listed inside the top 15. And other than their lone losses, both programs have done what’s proven most important in paving a path to the playoff — they’ve won everything else.
Along the road of a nearly flawless regular season, if not for a dud against the Huskies, Notre Dame also defeated an Army team last weekend that was then ranked No. 18. But, “as of today, Army is not in the rankings.” Manuel said. That could, however, change if the Black Knights win each of their final three games against UTSA on Saturday, Tulane in the AAC Championship and, finally, Navy on Dec. 14.
A second ranked win could help the Fighting Irish jump Penn State in the polls. So could a throttling of USC on Saturday. The Trojans will serve as the second common opponent between Notre Dame and the Nittany Lions. Both teams also played and dominated the lowly Purdue Boilermakers.
But given Penn State’s narrow 33-30 overtime win at USC, the Fighting Irish could be granted a seeding advantage if they can cruise to a blowout against the Trojans. Manuel and the rest of the selection committee will certainly keep a close eye on that game, as well as the Nittany Lions’ regular season finale against Maryland.
“They both have games this week that we will watch. Penn State plays Maryland, I believe, and Notre Dame plays USC,” Manuel said. “So, we’ll be watching how they perform, and we will start assessing when we get together on Monday to look at what’s transpired over the weekend.”
The next College Football Playoff rankings will be released at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Dec. 3. Selection Day will begin at noon ET on Sunday, Dec. 8.
