Penn State rolled past Delaware on Saturday afternoon without any real dramatics and heads into Big Ten play at 2-0 with plenty of football and plenty of hopes still ahead. It seems silly to talk about bowl season in September but here we are doing it anyway. Nothing keeps sports fans from looking towards the future, so here is a roundup of bowl projections from across the internet.
Action Network: Orange Bowl against North Carolina
North Carolina has long been an annual early season favorite for Penn State to face over the past few years but the two programs end up drifting in different directions by the season’s end. Mack Brown is a staple in the coaching world and Penn State hasn’t been to the Orange Bowl since 2006 so that would be a nice change of pace. Also a rare opportunity to play in a southern located bowl game and not have the opponent be from right around the corner.
ESPN: Fiesta Bowl against Washington
If Washington wasn’t about to join the Big Ten this would be a lot more interesting. Also doesn’t help this bowl matchup is still fresh in both program’s minds. Might not be the worst thing to get a fairly inconsequential look at the Huskies before they join the conference, but when it comes to postseason excitement this doesn’t check the box quite the same. The Fiesta Bowl itself is a good time though.
ESPN: Cotton Bowl against Notre Dame
As much as Notre Dame has never been a popular team for opposing fans to like, Marcus Freeman has made the Irish a lot more likable to many a casual onlooker. That being said you could write an entire story on this matchup and there probably isn’t a single Penn State or Notre Dame fan that wouldn’t look forward to this one. Penn State traveled well but was probably outnumbered by Memphis fans the last time the program made a trip to Dallas. Stands to reason a lot more people would make the trip for this game.
CBS: Peach Bowl against Alabama
Speaking of games with hype and potential. Time will tell how Alabama bounces back from its loss to Texas but there’s no versions of Penn State/Alabama that doesn’t interest everyone involved. Alabama would be the crowd favorite in this one but safe to assume Penn State fans could make an easier trip out of Atlanta than many of the more westward travel options. If Penn State doesn’t make the playoffs this year, getting Alabama or Notre Dame in a bowl is far from the worst second option.
Yahoo!: Orange Bowl against Clemson
There’s a lot of football left but Clemson has lost a bit of its excitement factor and falling to Duke in the opening week of the season didn’t help that much. The Tigers will play Florida State in two weeks and that ought to be a much more informative occasion for all parties involved. But like always Clemson will rack up an appealing record, but with Notre Dame, UNC, Florida State and Miami all on the schedule, the Tigers aren’t as obvious winners as in year’s past. That said, worse things for Penn State than a new bowl and a new opponent.
