Penn State is sitting in a great spot to go to a New Years Six bowl game following the release of the latest College Football Playoff rankings, and the path will likely lead to the Cotton Bowl.
Penn State is No. 8 in this week’s College Football Playoff ranking, one spot behind No. 7 Tennessee. Those rankings are important because it likely means Tennessee will be in line for the Orange Bowl ahead of the Nittany Lions, leaving Penn State as an at-large possibility for the Cotton Bowl.
No. 10 Kansas State will get a chance to play spoiler with those plans when they face No. 3 TCU in the Big 12 Championship Game. A loss by TCU could drop the Horned Frogs into the at-large spot for the Cotton Bowl while Kansas State will go to the Sugar Bowl as the Big 12 representative.
November 2️⃣9️⃣ #CFBPlayoff Selection Committee Rankings 🏈🏆
8️⃣. Penn State // @PennStateFball
— College Football Playoff (@CFBPlayoff) November 30, 2022
Also of note is where Ohio State fell in the latest rankings. The Buckeyes fell to No. 5 in the playoff rankings after their loss to No. 2 Michigan last weekend. That leaves Ohio State in a position to slide into the College Football Playoff if No. 3 TCU or No. 4 USC should happen to lose in their conference championship games this weekend.
If Ohio State gets into the playoff as a second Big Ten team, then the Rose Bowl spot would be left vacant for the next highest-ranked Big Ten team, which would be Penn State.
The top four teams in this week’s rankings were Georgia, Michigan, TCU, and USC in that order. Georgia and Micigan look like the most secure locks entering conference championship weekend.
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