It’s officially official. Penn State is heading back to Pasadena to play in the Rose Bowl against Pac-12 champion Utah on January 2. The expected matchup was confirmed on Sunday afternoon as the College Football Playoff was etched in stone and the rest of the New Years Six bowl matchups were locked in. With Michigan and Ohio State each getting into the College Football Playoff, Penn State was next in line to head to the Rose Bowl to represent the Big Ten.
This was the bowl game destination that was growing plenty of momentum since last week’s College Football Playoff rankings were released when Penn State was No. 8 in the rankings. But this week saw the selection committee actually drop Penn State three spots without playing a game while still matching them up with Utah in the Rose Bowl. And don’t think that drop went unnoticed by Penn State Twitter either.
Did the selection committee just give Penn State a little bulletin board material to motivate them in bowl preparations? We’ll find out on January 2. Until then, the reactions were flowing in on Twitter.