Unsurprisingly, Penn State’s dropped in the latest College Football Playoff rankings.
The team was No. 11 in the first CFP batch, moved up to 10 for the second one and now is No. 12.
Penn State is No. 12 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings.
Fair or foul? Let me hear it.
— Joe Smeltzer (@joesmeltzer775) November 15, 2023
The two Big Ten teams ahead of Penn State are the ones responsible for its only two losses.
Ohio State, which beat Penn State 20-12 Oct. 21 in Columbus, is No. 2, and Michigan, which beat Penn State 24-15 Saturday, is No 3. The Michigan loss effectively ended any chance Penn State had of winning the Big Ten and making the College Football Playoff. Right now, the best Penn State can hope for is a New Year’s Six bowl appearance.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Penn State’s a combined 4-16 against Ohio State and Michigan in the Playoff era. The team’s 1-9 against Ohio State, with the lone win coming in 2016, and 3-7 against Michigan, with the most recent win coming in 2020.
Penn State’s had plenty of those since James Franklin took over as head coach in 2014. The team made the Rose Bowl in 2016, won the Fiesta Bowl the next year, won the Cotton Bowl two years later and the Rose Bowl last season.
But Penn State has yet to make it to the playoffs in the four-team era, which this is the last year of. All the team can do now is focus on its last two regular-season games. The team hosts Rutgers at noon this coming Saturday and ends its regular season against Michigan State at Detroit’s Ford Field the next week. The team has a great chance of going 1-0 in both of those games. Rutgers just lost 22-0 to Iowa, and Michigan State is 3-7, making this the second straight year it won’t be bowl eligible.
