What happens now with Penn State?
Let’s start with the one thing at this point that is for sure: Penn State will play Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship game in Indianapolis on Saturday, Dec. 3.
After that, things can get very messy and very murky.
For the Nittany Lions, the clearest scenario comes into play if they lose the game to Wisconsin. The Lions will then be a three-loss team and will almost surely not be in the running for either the playoff or the Rose Bowl. They would nonetheless still get strong consideration for an at-large bid to one of the New Year’s Six bowl games.
If No. 7 Penn State loses to No. 6 Wisconsin, it is a good bet that the Nittany Lions would play in the Cotton Bowl against, perhaps, Western Michigan, which is undefeated going into the Mid-American Conference title game Friday, Dec. 2, against Ohio.
However, if Penn State wins the Big Ten championship, there would be other possibilities —the Rose Bowl against the No. 1 non-playoff team from the Pac-12 (perhaps USC), or even a spot in the national playoffs.
The Rose Bowl, in this case, barring weird things happening during championship weekend, would almost be a certainty, if that’s possible in college football these days.
The four teams who are in the playoff now appear to be Alabama (no matter what happens in the SEC title game), Ohio State, Clemson and Washington, ranked Nos. 1-4, respectively.
If Clemson and Washington win their conference championships in the ACC and Pac-12, respectively, the playoffs appear to be set.
If not, the committee has a lot to think about. Its mandate is to choose the four best teams in the country, but it is also supposed to heavily weigh conference champions in its considerations.
Penn State would be a conference champion and the only team to beat Ohio State, but would the committee choose a two-loss team as well as two Big Ten teams? It’s impossible to see them move Ohio State out of the playoff from the No. 2 spot without the Buckeyes actually playing a game and after beating Michigan, then ranked No.3, in their last outing. Even Michigan, now No. 5, which walloped Penn State in September but lost two of its last three, might still be in the discussion. And what about the ACC, Big 12 and Pac-12 champs?
If all the favorites win, the committee will have a much easier puzzle to put together. The fact that we’re talking about college football here, however, almost ensures that will not be the case.
Nothing like this happened in the first two years of the playoff system, so it will be more than interesting to see how the committee arrives at the four ‘best’ teams in college football.
RECRUITING
Penn State head coach James Franklin and his staff are rightly considered to be aggressive and extremely effective recruiters.
So far, both of Franklin’s recruiting classes have been ‘ranked’ among the top 15 groups in the country (how a class of players can be ranked without even stepping onto a practice field is a discussion for another day). That was done coming off of seasons when Penn State hovered around the line of bowl-eligibility and won one bowl game and lost another.
What would Franklin and his staff be able to do after a double-digit win season and an appearance in a major bowl game?
We are about to find out.
The current list of 2017 commitments grew to 15 after the Michigan State win when Penn State picked up its first true defensive tackle. Fred Hansard, a 6-foot-3, 310-pound tackle out of the Hun School in Princeton, N.J., committed to the Lions after an official visit over the weekend. Hansard apparently committed earlier to Florida, but changed his mind and will join the Nittany Lions next season.
Penn State also picked up a commitment from Zack Kuntz, a 6-7, 218-pound tight end from Camp Hill, to join the class of 2018. That group now has five members, and all of them are highly regarded prospects (four stars or higher).
Pretty good week then for the Nittany Lions, both on and off the field.
(photo if needed)
TIM WEIGHT/For the Gazette
Penn State fans have had a lot to cheer about lately. They’ll have to wait until Dec. 4 to find out where the Nittany Lions will be playing next.
