Penn State doesn’t play Saturday but that doesn’t mean coach James Franklin’s team can’t move up in the rankings.
The man who preceded Franklin as the PSU boss could help his old school out.
Bill O’Brien’s Boston College Eagles have been one of the country’s bigger surprises through two games.
A big upset win at then-ranked Florida State that wasn’t even close propelled BC into the top 25 at No. 24, and Boston College kept that standing after a much more expected win over Duquesne. A win this week would shoot BC up the rankings. O’Brien’s crew has its toughest test yet, taking on No. 6 Missouri in Columbia.
Missouri is a team that, like Penn State, has playoff aspirations this season.
Both teams could well find themselves on the 12-team playoff bubble near the end of the year.
Ari Wasserman of On3Sports has PSU as a “bubble team” and the first squad out of the expanded 12-team playoff.
His last four teams in are Missouri, Alabama, Ole Miss and USC, so three SEC teams and one of Penn State’s Big Ten foes. So if Wasserman’s projections are accurate, the Penn State-USC game scheduled for Oct. 12 at the Coliseum could end up deciding a playoff spot. PSU is currently No. 8, USC No. 11.
Penn State’s one of Wasserman’s first four teams out, along with Clemson, Kansas State and Oklahoma State.
Boston College is up against it, coming in as a 16.5-point underdog.
But O’Brien knows all about being up against it.
O’Brien will be remembered positivley by all rational Penn State fans. He was the one who Penn State hired to replace the legendary Joe Paterno. He was the man who walked into the program when it was reeling from scandal, and then six months later, became a program hit with NCAA sanctions. O’Brien not only kept Penn State from getting walked over by the Big Ten, he kept it a winning program.
