Where does Penn State rank in the latest College Football Playoff Poll and what's the projected bracket?
Penn State improved to 10-1 Saturday with a win over Minnesota. Where do the Nittany Lions now rank in the College Football Playoff Poll?
Updated College Football Playoff Poll
- Thread starter RyanSnyder
- Start date
Updated College Football Playoff Poll - Nov. 26
1) Oregon
2) Ohio State
3) Texas
4) Penn State
5) Notre Dame
6) Miami
7) Georgia
8) Tennessee
9) SMU
10) Indiana
11) Boise State
12) Clemson
13) Alabama
13) Alabama
14) Ole Miss
15) South Carolina
16) Arizona State
17) Tulane
18) Iowa State
19) BYU
20) Texas A&M
21) Missouri
22) UNLV
23) Illinois
24) Kansas State
25) Colorado
1) Oregon
2) Ohio State
3) Texas
4) Penn State
5) Notre Dame
6) Miami
7) Georgia
8) Tennessee
9) SMU
10) Indiana
11) Boise State
12) Clemson
13) Alabama
13) Alabama
14) Ole Miss
15) South Carolina
16) Arizona State
17) Tulane
18) Iowa State
19) BYU
20) Texas A&M
21) Missouri
22) UNLV
23) Illinois
24) Kansas State
25) Colorado
Would be perfect…open with Indiana then play Miami. In the bracket with Texas and not Georgia or OSU. It won’t stay this way, but I wish it would.
It's easy as a fan to say that a particular personality in the media is biased against one's team based on certain things that person says. However, this analyst has come across over the years as someone who has a penchant for poking at PSU a bit.
PSU continuing to do well! I’m elated for the team and coaching staff!
Gimme ND at home first round to shut these candy àss jibronis up!
Yeah, that's the thing. It's actually mind boggling to me that anyone could think Notre Dame should be ranked higher than PSU - especially after Texas A&M lost over the weekend. The one argument for ND was they had the "best win" of the two teams, but A&M really doesn't look that different from Illinois at this point and ND's schedule is far weaker overall (e.g. only 8 Power 5 teams compared to 10 Power 5 opponents for PSU). I think the better question is whether Georgia should be ranked above ND.
Notre Dame probably gets knocked out of the playoffs if they lose to USC.
I'd also love to play Clemson at home if they could somehow back their way in. Watching Dabo cry live would be fantastic! @Midnighter
Maybe ND deserves to be ranked ahead of PSU if they win big vs USC. Otherwise no.
#4 won't play #5
They LOST to Northern Illinois. They also had a weaker schedule. No way they deserve to be ranked ahead of Penn State at this point.
True, but ND has dominated most opponents while PSU has had several close calls. Our common opponent will be USC. If ND wins by 3 scores vs our win in OT I think they would have a case.
Note that it's actually two common opponents, as we also both played Purdue (Notre Dame won 66-7 at Purdue).
The playoff committee has orchestrated it well. If ND deserves to be higher ranked than PSU, they can prove it by dominating USC as an away team. That would likely trump any schedule difficulty differences between PSU and ND. Not what I want, but it seems straight-forward to me.
if only Penn State could have beaten a team comparable to Northern Illinois, oh that would have made our case for us
alas....
pfft
I hear next year ND is adding the Coast Guard and the Merchant Marine Academies to their schedule.
And The Salvation Army.
They're dangerous. Headquarters in London, they have Southern (UK) speed
They wouldn't. Their best win would be comparable to PSU's (A&M vs Illinois), their loss would be much worse (Northern Illinois compared to Ohio State), and their overall schedule is much easier than PSU's.
The better question is why is Indiana so low compared to Notre Dame? Both have 1 loss (a close loss to a bad team vs a big loss to a great team), both have dominated games but versus joke schedules. Doesn't really seem to be much difference between them to me. Classic case of buying too much into the name on the jersey instead of the results on field.
Instead, let's compare records versus MAC teams....
PSU: 2-0 versus the MAC
Notre Dame: 1-1 versus the MAC
Who deserves to be ranked higher?
Notre Dame has multiple wins that are better than Indiana's best win (probably about 3 of them). That has nothing to do with the name on the front of their jersey.The better question is why is Indiana so low compared to Notre Dame? Both have 1 loss (a close loss to a bad team vs a big loss to a great team), both have dominated games but versus joke schedules. Doesn't really seem to be much difference between them to me. Classic case of buying too much into the name on the jersey instead of the results on field.
At Texas A&M, home against Louisville, and if they beat USC (which they would for this to matter), at USC. Army on a neutral would then be comparable with Indiana’s best win of Michigan at home.
Indiana's Strength of Schedule is 50 and their Strength of Record is 7
Notre Dame's Strength of Schedule is 78 and their Strength of Record is 10
I would agree that Notre Dame has defeated some teams that are marginally better than the best teams Indiana has beaten. I would also say that Notre Dame has a far worse loss than Indiana which really brings down the entire resume for the Irish. The two teams are actually quite comparable.
(PSU has SOS 32 and SOR 4 FWIW)
Well, they haven't beaten USC at this point, so they can't exactly count that...
And honestly I don't think A&M, Louisville and Army are really that much better than Michigan, Washington and Nebraska.
It’s all moot if they don’t beat USC (and Indiana doesn’t beat Purdue), so comparing them really only matters if they both win…hopefully ND loses so it’s a moot point. But, with a win, their best wins are considerably better.
Looking at SP+ since it’s a pretty good indicator of the line, and allowing 2.5 points for home field, we’ve got (and @Grant Green can tell me if any of these are way off, as I don’t set my own numbers for football)…
Texas A&M would be a 12.5 point favorite at home against Michigan
USC would be a 10 point favorite at home over Washington
Louisville would be a 9 point favorite on a neutral against Nebraska
Army would be a 9.5 point favorite at Michigan St
Notre Dame’s wins are considerably better than Indiana’s wins. Are they enough to offset the loss at home to Northern Illinois (vs a 3 TD road loss at Ohio St)? I easily think so. Others can argue against it. But it’s a pretty solid argument that ND has a better resume than Indiana and it has nothing to do with the name on ND’s Jersey.
If I’m on the Committee, I‘d take a win over Michigan over a win over Army. It’s Michigan. That’s a huge win.
Last edited:
If Texas A&M loses to Texas on Saturday, Notre Dame will be without a single Win against a Ranked Opponent. There's no comparison between ND and PSU.
Current Comparison before Saturday:
ND SOS 78
PSU SOS 32
ND Ranked Wins 1 (#20 TAM)
PSU Ranked Wins 1 (#23 Illinois)
ND Record 10-1
PSU Record 10-1
ND Loss (Unranked 6-5 NIU)
PSU Loss (#2 OSU)
Current Comparison before Saturday:
ND SOS 78
PSU SOS 32
ND Ranked Wins 1 (#20 TAM)
PSU Ranked Wins 1 (#23 Illinois)
ND Record 10-1
PSU Record 10-1
ND Loss (Unranked 6-5 NIU)
PSU Loss (#2 OSU)