Penn State Football: Bowl Projections Narrow Slightly as Season Rolls Along

At 6-1 Penn State sits at No. 13 in the nation in the AP Top 25 and facing down the final half of the year. A pending game against No. 2 Ohio State will determine what the goals are the rest of the way for the Nittany Lions but in either case Penn State is still looking at plenty of interesting and worthwhile bowl trips and opponents according to some of the most recent projections. Check them out below.

Sports Illustrated: Music City Bowl against No. 15 Ole Miss. While things don’t appear to be trending toward Penn State and James Franklin making the trip to Nashville, it would still be one of the more interesting storylines to cap off the year. Ole Miss and coach Lane Kiffin are explosive and ton of fun to watch, which might be a good thing or a bad thing for Penn State in the long run. This might not be the top of anyone’s list but in terms of getting stuck with a bowl game that might not be your first choice, but Penn State could do a lot worse in regards to location and opponent. Ole Miss has some big games coming up that will help or hurt the Rebels stock.

ESPN and CBS Sports: Orange Bowl against No. 10 Wake Forest. The Orange Bowl is the new hot landing spot for Penn State and might continue to be no matter what happens this coming weekend against Ohio State. Obviously Penn State will have to continue to win as the season rolls along to keep a trip to Miami in its sights, but so far so good for the furthest trip south Penn State has taken in a long time. Wake Forest isn’t the most exciting opponent Penn State could end up with but a meeting against NC State in two weeks will tell everyone a bit more about the top 10 Demon Deacons. ESPN posts two projections from two different experts if you’re wondering why the Worldwide Leader shows up twice on this list.

Sporting News: Orange Bowl against No. 16 Syracuse. The Orange are fun. Syracuse being good is fun. No this isn’t the sexiest opponent unless you’re into throwback series (the two programs have played 71 times) but there’s nothing wrong with that. The Orange playing in the Orange Bowl is the sort of dad joke that’s going to get passed around for nearly the entire game and we may as well embrace that variable now. Things would have been more interesting if Syracuse had hung on to beat Clemson this past weekend but that didn’t happen. The Orange play at Wake Forest in two weeks in the battle of Penn State Bowl Projection Opponents.

ESPN and Action Network: Citrus Bowl against No. 15 Ole Miss. A trip to Orlando isn’t a trip to Miami but it would be warmer in Florida than Nashville for this matchup. No offense to country music but if there is a bowl trip that involves weather potentially being in the 70s then sign me up for that location. Orlando isn’t the most interesting place in the world but it’s always nice to be wearing shorts in December.

Yahoo!: Cotton Bowl against No. 20 Cincinnati. Luke Fickell makes this game interesting as everyone’s favorite “When will he take a bigger and better job?” coaching candidate. The Bearcats have long been the darlings of the College Football Playoff expansion push and another solid season could see Penn State meeting up with the Cotton Bowl yet again. The media suite at the Cotton Bowl is great so lots of support on that front from this author. This isn’t the most interesting game you could draw up but Penn State getting to play unique opponents in the Cotton Bowl between Cincinnati and Memphis is a nice twist on the usual SEC powers that come rolling through most Big Ten affiliated bowl games. The Bearcats have Tulane left on the schedule in terms of ranked opponents to close out the regular season but otherwise should cruise over the next few weeks.