Joel Klatt predicts Penn State will host a College Football Playoff game in 2024 season
Penn State routinely came up short of making the College Football Playoff when it was a four-team event. Now that the playoff is moving to 12 teams, Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt expects the Nittany Lions to be in this season.
In fact, Klatt expects Penn State to host a CFP game in 2024. He strongly believes that this is the year James Franklin’s program breaks through.
“Couple of things on Penn State, really three. No. 1 is this is the recruiting class they’ve been pointing to for a couple of years,” Klatt said Tuesday on The Herd with Colin Cowherd. “Their quarterback Drew Allar, Nick Singleton, Kaytron Allen, Abdul Carter; these guys are NFL players. A lot of their fan base, me included, have been pointing to this season as a year they need to take a step forward.”
Klatt also loves the way the schedule sets up for Penn State. Outside of Penn State, there are five other Big Ten teams ranked in the AP Preseason Top 25. The Nittany Lions play only two of them.
“Their schedule for Big Ten standards is softer than others. They don’t face Oregon. They don’t face Michigan, so their toughest game is hosting Ohio State,” Klatt said. “Now, that’s nothing to sneeze at, obviously. Ohio State, at least for me, is the No. 1 team in the country in the preseason.
“But as it could be in the Big Ten, that’s fairly manageable. So you’ve got this manageable schedule and you’ve got this recruiting class you’ve been pointing to for a couple of years with NFL talent all over the field.”
Finally, Klatt is a believer in new offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki and believes he will help Drew Allar and company reach another level this fall.
“Their defense is always incredible, they get a new offensive coordinator, he comes from Kansas, helped Lance Leipold really rebuild the Jayhawks. His name is Andy Kotelnicki. I believe Drew Allar, their quarterback, takes a step forward,” Klatt said.
“Everything points to Penn State taking a step forward. That means, to me, being in the top eight in the playoff and hosting a first round College Football Playoff game in Happy Valley. In fact, I’ve got — my new podcast coming out, I believe tomorrow, is going to have my predictions for the 12-team playoff, and I can tell you right now, they’re hosting a first-round playoff game. That’s what I think Penn State is.”