Penn State postseason projections: Where are the Lions slotted ahead of Week 12?
Penn State football is entering the home stretch of the 2024 regular season. The Nittany Lions sit at 8-1 with just three games to go before they learn what part of the postseason they will play in. As things currently stand, media projections and analytical models project that head coach James Franklin’s team will make the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff. Not everyone is still convinced they will host a home game, though, ahead of a Week 12 trip to Purdue.
“From a Purdue perspective, Coach [Ryan] Walters, obviously know his background really well, really kind of got on the scene as the defensive coordinator at Missouri,” Lions coach James Franklin said Tuesday. “And then did a really good job there and then did a phenomenal job at the defensive coordinator at Illinois.
“Now he’s been the head coach there since 2022. And obviously they’ve been aggressive in the transfer portal. I think they’ve gone and gotten 34 players out of the transfer portal.”
Here’s where things stand on the CFP predictions front coming out of Week 11. Note that new CFP rankings come out Tuesday night at 8:30 p.m. ET. All numbers below are projected seeds, not rankings. Those numbers will be different until the final version is out due to conference champions eventually filling the first four slots.
Latest Penn State College Football Playoff projections
On3’s Andy Staples is moving Penn State out of the first round home game mix. He dropped the Lions to No. 11, which would equal a trip to No. 6 Tennessee.
“The Nittany Lions pounded Washington on Saturday, and all they can do is keep winning and hope that going 11-1 against that schedule is better in the committee’s eyes than having two losses but more quality wins,” Staples writes.
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Ari Wasserman, also of On3, meanwhile, is also in that boat. He has No. 9 Penn State at No. 8 Alabama in the first round.
ESPN’s predictions team, meanwhile, still likes Beaver Stadium to be a Round 1 Playoff game site. Kyle Bonagura has No. 11 Ole Miss at No. 6 Penn State, while Mark Schlabach has the No. 10 Rebels visiting the No. 7 Nittany Lions.
At CBS Sports, Jerry Palm projects No. 9 Notre Dame vs. No. 8 Penn State. Brett McMurphy of The Action Network, meanwhile, has the Lions at No. 8, as well, and hosting No. 9 Tennessee.
Last but not least, Austin Mock’s data model at The Athletic currently gives the Nittany Lions a 96-percent chance of making the Playoff, a 65-percent chance to host a home game, and a five-percent chance of winning it all. He projects No. 6 PSU to host No. 11 Georgia.
