Where is Penn State football in this week's College Football Playoff rankings?
Penn State is on the move in the second College Football Playoff rankings of the year. After opening up at No. 15 last Tuesday, the Nittany Lions are now No. 14.
The CFP committee will release a new top-25 each Tuesday through Nov. 29. Then, a final rundown will be revealed to set both the Playoff and the New Year’s Six bowl game matchups.
Head coach James Franklin’s team is 7-2. The Lions blasted Indiana 45-14 on the road last Saturday. Now, the Lions are set for their penultimate home game of the year. Maryland visits Beaver Stadium on Saturday for a 3:30 p.m. matchup on FOX.
“Moving on to Maryland, obviously you guys know I’ve known Mike Locksley for a long time,” Lions coach James Franklin said on Tuesday. “He’s done a really good job there improving their program and their roster.”
Penn State enters Saturday with question marks along the offensive line. The Lions hope to have right tackle Caedan Wallace back. But, left guard Landon Tengwall is out for the year. And, left tackle Olu Fashanu “is one of those situations where it’s week to week,” per Franklin. That could lead Penn State to have to play more first-year players than it desires to while also trying to preserve their redshirts. But, linemen like tackle Drew Shelton, guard Vega Ioane, and guard/tackle JB Nelson are all in play to play this week if needed.
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“At the end of the day we’re going to do whatever we’ve got to do to be 1-0 this week,” Franklin said. “But, there’s still the possibility of us maybe being able to redshirt some of these guys if we can. But that won’t trump what we have to do this year and this season to be successful.”
What this week’s ranking means for Penn State
In a word, nothing. Of course, these rankings are fun to track and they do help inform future decisions. After all, the closer you are to making the top-12 for a New Year’s Six bowl game slot now, the better off you will be in early December if you win out. Penn State will be favored to do exactly that based on its next three opponents, starting with the Terps.
That said, outcomes for the Lions and in games across the country will shape this picture in any number of ways over the next three weeks. Many bowl projections have Penn State slotted for a New Year’s Six bowl at this point in time. But, which one is up in the air. We’ll know more at this time next week, however, and much more during the final Tuesday of November before the final rankings are revealed the following Sunday.
Full College Football Playoff rankings: Nov. 8
- Georgia
- Ohio State
- Michigan
- TCU
- Tennessee
- Oregon
- LSU
- USC
- Alabama
- Clemson
- Ole Miss
- UCLA
- Utah
- Penn State
- North Carolina
- N.C. State
- Tulane
- Texas
- Kansas State
- Notre Dame
- Illinois
- UCF
- Florida State
- Kentucky
- Washington
