Most College Football Playoff projections feature Penn State playing a consistently prominent program such as Alabama or Clemson.
But one analyst has Penn State playing a Big Ten program that has been one of America’s biggest surprises midway through 2024.
Indiana, which is 6-0 and ranked No. 16, is in On3Sports Ari Wasserman’s latest projections.
This would be intriguing for multiple reasons, the obvious one being that the teams are in the same conference. Although it would be an insult to rivalries to say that Penn State-Indiana is one because Penn State has dominated the series, leading it 25-2. There’s another reason it would be intriguing.
‘THE TOM ALLEN BOWL’
Penn State’s defensive coordinator used to be Indiana’s head coach.
Allen came to Penn State after seven seasons as the head coach at Indiana.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.In that time, IU’s overall results were mixed. But the team consistently put together solid defenses, and Allen played a big part in that.
Before becoming Indiana’s head coach, he was the defensive coordinator there for the 2016 season.
Penn State for all seven of those seasons, the most memorable game being IU’s overtime win in 2020’s season opener. That was the only time Allen beat Penn State, although the team came close last October. IU came into Happy Valley as a four-touchdown underdog, but ended up being tied with the favorites with less than two minutes left before PSU finally but the Hoosiers away with a late touchdown pass. That game was a moral victory for Indiana but there weren’t many official victories in 2023.
IU finished 3-9 overall and 1-8 in the Big Ten, which led to Allen’s dismissal.
Penn State isn’t scheduled to take Indiana on in the regular season again until 2025, so for the “Tom Allen Bowl” to take place in 2024, it would have to be in the College Football Playoff.
