Penn State will go into its Rose Bowl matchup against Utah No. 11 in the College Football Playoff rankings.
Take a look at the full and final #CFBPlayoff selection committee rankings upon completion of the 2022 college football season!
🏈🏆 pic.twitter.com/SDupvlJ7XF— College Football Playoff (@CFBPlayoff) December 4, 2022
Coach James Franklin’s team didn’t play in the Big Ten championship this weekend, and as a result, moved down three spots and out of the top 10.
Utah, Penn State’s opponent, is No. 8, despite having one more loss (three) than Penn State with the same amount of wins (10).
The Utes got to the Rose Bowl by winning the PAC-12 Championship over USC this past Friday.
Along with almost ensuring that Penn State would be in the Rose Bowl, Utah’s win also altered the College Football Playoff.
Had USC, then-ranked No. 4, won, it would have been one of the four Playoff teams. Instead, the Trojans are No. 10 and will be playing in the Cotton Bowl against Tulane. In order, Georgia, Michigan, TCU and Ohio State are this season’s Playoff teams, which we found out early Sunday afternoon. Ohio State and Michigan are the Big Ten’s other ranked teams in addition to Penn State.
Penn State and Utah will kickoff the 108th Rose Bowl game at 5:00 ET Jan. 2. The Rose Bowl will not be played on New Year’s Day for just the seventh time in its history because of a long-standing policy not to play Sundays. Penn State is coming into the Rose Bowl on a four-game winning streak that started after the team’s loss to Ohio State Oct. 29 at Beaver Stadium. Penn State won five of its last six games by an average of more than 30 points.
