Had the College Football Playoff expanded to 12 teams before the 2016 season, the history of Penn State football would probably be different.
Assuming all results stayed the same, PSU would have made the playoff in six of the last eight seasons had it been a 12-team tournament and not a four-team one.
Unfortunately for James Franklin, four was the number, and thus Penn State’s never made the CFP.
But as the cliche goes, it’s better late then never, and starting with the upcoming season, 12 teams will qualify for the playoff. With key players such as QB Drew Allar, RB’s Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen and a consistently excellent defense, making the Playoff will be seen as the bare minimum by many Penn State fans. There will be a lot of projections between now and early December, and unless Penn State plays itself out of contention, it’s a good bet that most of those projections will include PSU.
With kickoff still more than half a year away, college football insider Brett McMurphy of the Action Network has Penn State making the playoff and playing Missouri.
This projection would have Penn State as the No. 9 seed and Missouri the eighth, which means Penn State would have to play on the road.
In the new format, first round games will take place at the home field of the higher-seeded team.
PSU is one of two Big Ten teams McMurphy has making the postseason. He has Ohio State as the No. 2 seed. He doesn’t have defending national champion Michigan making it. Michigan is losing a lot of talent, as well as coach Jim Harbaugh, who left last month for the NFL.
