Everybody knew that Penn State football’s AP Poll ranking was going to drop in the rankings after losing to Ohio State Saturday afternoon at Beaver Stadium.
The question was how far.
In the US LBM Coaches Poll, Penn State fell from No. 3 to No. 7.
In the AP Poll, Penn State dropped from that third spot to N0. 6.
For obvious reasons, the Penn State fan base isn’t in high spirits at the moment. PSU has now lost 12 of its last 13 meetings against Ohio State. Coach James Franklin’s overall record against the Buckeyes is 1-10.
With that said, Penn State’s No. 1 goal, which is to win a national title, is still there for it to take.
THERE IS HOPE
Penn State probably doesn’t have a chance to win the Big Ten championship, with unbeaten Oregon and Michigan along with, you guessed it, Ohio State, all being ahead of Penn State in the standings. But, yes, Virginia, there is a realistic path for Penn State to make it to the College Football Playoff for the first time in human history. The reason for this is simple: there are more teams in the playoff this season than there have been before. The field has tripled from four to 12, and perhaps no team will benefit from that more than Penn State, which would have made the field in six of the past eight seasons if it allowed 12 teams. The AP ranking won’t have anything to do with Penn State as far as the Playoff goes.
THE ROAD AHEAD
For Penn State to be a Playoff lock, it has to win out. The team’s final four games are vs. Washington (5-4), at Purdue (1-7), at Minnesota (6-3) and vs. Maryland (4-4). Penn State will be favored in all of those games and with the possible exception of Minnesota Nov. 23, it will be favored by double digits.
The rest of the season starts this coming Saturday against Washington at 8 on Peacock in Beaver Stadium.
