Coming off a 31-14 victory over Maryland this past weekend Penn State’s bowl projections didn’t change all that much following a fairly calm weekend across the college football landscape. Nevertheless a new bowl has risen into the picture as a potential postseason destination for the Nittany Lions, with a tie to James Franklin’s past to boot.
Penn State’s bowl picture will continue to get clearer as the season goes along with just three games to go, but big meetings against Michigan and Michigan State could swing the Nittany Lions toward — or away — from bigger and better things.
The Wolverines will face Penn State at noon on Saturday at Beaver Stadium.
CBS: Music City Bowl (Nashville) vs Arkansas
Penn State heading to Nashville would bring James Franklin back to his Vanderbilt stomping grounds. The longer Franklin is removed from his Vanderbilt tenure the less interesting this gets, but community reunion games are always interesting. As for Arkansas, they’ve been a fun SEC team this season and are headed to a bowl for the first time since 2017 – much like Memphis in the Cotton Bowl, this gives Penn State an opponent with a tab more postseason excitement than the Nittany Lions.
247 Network: Music City Bowl (Nashville) vs Ole Miss
Ole Miss and Lane Kiffin continue to be a part of Penn State’s postseason picture. Ole Miss has Texas A&M, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt left on the schedule. This game still puts one of the highest scoring teams in the nation against one of the best defenses. Kiffin taking on Brent Pry would be a fun chess match no matter where the game is played.
Action Network: Las Vegas Bowl vs UCLA
Vegas is still a strong postseason destination for the Nittany Lions and UCLA enters the picture. The Bruins almost beat Oregon earlier this year and still have Colorado, USC and Cal left on the schedule. A win over Stanford is one of the better marks on UCLA’s resume.
Yahoo!: Las Vegas Bowl vs Arizona State
Arizona State continues to be part of the equation for Penn State’s postseason opponent. The Sun Devils have Washington, Arizona and Oregon State left to go already at 6-3 on the year. With a little help Arizona State could get into the PAC-12 title game but it will need Utah to trip up in the final three games. The Utes have Oregon, Arizona and Colorado left on the schedule but are hosting the Ducks and Buffs at home which helps.
The Athletic: Outback Bowl (Tampa) vs Kentucky
A Will Levis depth-chart revenge game would be fun but not the most interesting thing on the list of postseason matchups. After starting the season strong, the Wildcats have lost three-straight including a 45-42 defeat to Tennessee this past weekend and a loss to Mississippi State the week prior. Nobody loses marks for falling to Georgia.
CFN: Outback Bowl (Tampa) vs Auburn
Generally there is a tendency to avoid postseason games that are rematches of regular season contests so it remains to be seen if the Outback Bowl would want to do this. That being said it would probably still be a good game and the second of three in the series as Penn State is set to travel to Auburn next season. The Tigers have tailed off a bit as the season has gone a long but this isn’t the worst matchup aside from the fact everyone just saw it.
