Penn State has a realistic chance of making the first 12-team college football playoff this coming season, but it’s hardly a sure thing per one set of odds.
SportsBetting.ag released early odds of Power Four teams with the best chances of making the 2024 Playoff, and Penn State is tied for the 12th-best odds at +200 (2/1)
The teams tied with PSU are Arizona and Tennessee.
For a good bit of PSU fans, being tied with Tennessee will be a relatively easy pill to swallow since that’s a program with a big-time football tradition. Arizona will be a more difficult pill to swallow since that’s known more as a “basketball school.”
Three Big Ten teams are ahead of Penn State. Ohio State has the best odds of any school at -1000.
Michigan, even after losing coach Jim Harbaugh and several key players from last year’s national championship team to the NFL, still has better odds than Penn State at -110. Newcomer Oregon, who’s coming over from the PAC-12, has the third-best odds at -500.
These CFP odds line up with what a prominent news outlet had to say about Penn State.
Sporting News has PSU as No. 13, explaining that Penn State “might fall under the buy-low category, and that could be a good thing.”
“Quarterback Drew Allar and running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen are back, and the addition of Ohio State transfer wide receiver Julian Fleming should help the passing game,” the Sporting News wrote. “Linebacker Abdul Carter is a first-round talent and is listed as a defensive end going into the spring. Back-to-back home games against Ohio State (Nov. 2) and Washington (Nov. 9) will determine whether the Nittany Lions are in the Big Ten championship hunt, which they should be.”
