With Penn State picking up a convincing 31-0 victory over Iowa on Saturday the Nittany Lions took one more step towards a postseason appearance. While there’s little doubt that the Nittany Lions will get to the required six wins and more, where Penn State ends up playing this postseason is always up in the air. The college football season is only just now reaching the thick of things so plenty will change, but for now here are some bowl projections heading into the fifth week of the season.
CBS: Peach Bowl against Alabama
Alabama will be an interesting team to watch this year after an early season loss to Texas. For whatever reason the Tide have been written out of contention for a playoff spot [although defensive issues and quarterback controversy are legitimate concerns] and that leaves Nick Saban and company in a New Years’ Six bowl against Penn State. Time will tell if Alabama can turn things around in a way that changes its playoff stock, but for now Penn State would be more than happy to have this sort of bowl game if their own playoff aspirations aren’t met. Playoffs or not, a win over Alabama would be a marquee victory for the program and James Franklin.
Action Network, 247 Network and Bleacher Report: Orange Bowl against North Carolina
It seem like until both teams get into the thick of their season that North Carolina is going to continue to be Penn State’ postseason dancing partner of choice. It’s not the most interesting of the potential games on this list but it does get elevated simply because the Orange Bowl has avoided Penn State for a good long while now. Mack Brown is a fun coach, UNC is a fun team, you could do worse than this, but you might have a hard time convincing some casual fans of that. Of course if they want an excuse to go to Miami who could blame them.
ESPN: Peach Bowl against LSU
Atlanta is another new destination Penn State could have a fun time visiting and LSU would be another feather in Penn State’s SEC victory resume. There’s not as much to write home about with this matchup compared to some others but this isn’t the worst option and if you’re not a big fan of Brian Kelly – which honestly is a lot of people in college football – it’s not the worst win to tack onto the resume at the end of the season. Like Penn State, LSU has plenty left to prove this year.
ESPN: Fiesta Bowl against USC
Notre Dame has dropped out of Penn State’s obligatory “other” category on bowl projections and USC has slipped in. The Trojans are still undefeated and a perfectly reasonable playoff option in their own right, but a lackluster performance against Arizona State hasn’t helped the stock any. USC is about to be a much more regular staple on Penn State’s schedule thanks to Big Ten expansion but nobody is going to turn this sort of game down. The Fiesta Bowl is a – indoor on bad weather days – stadium which means a fast track no matter what. One can assume this game would result in a lot of points.
