After two months of watching college football, fans across the country got a first glimpse as to how the College Football Playoff selection committee is feeling about the season’s top teams so far. Not known to stay in synce with the traditional polls when the first batch of rankings are revealed, the selection committee’s first rankings reveal is always interesting to see. And with the playoff field expanded from four to 12 teams this season, there is even more interest in how the first rankings looked when revealed on Tuesday night.
As for Penn State, the playoff push is officially on.
Penn State ranked No. 6 in the initial playoff rankings for the 2024 season, which puts the Nittany Lions in a great spot for a home playoff game at the end of the year. Getting a top-four seed and a first-round bye is not out of the picture just yet, but pulling that off after losing to Ohio State this past weekend would be quite a challenge. But a No. 6 seed puts Penn State in the virtual driver’s seat for one of the four home playoff games.
Four Big Ten teams landed in the projected playoff field with Oregon (No. 1) and Ohio State (No. 2) taking the top two spots in the initial rankings and Indiana coming in at No. 8.
The top 12 teams as of Nov. 5
Here is what the top 12 looks like in the initial rankings.
- Oregon
- Ohio State
- Georgia
- Miami
- Texas
- Penn State
- Tennessee
- Indiana
- BYU
- Notre Dame
- Alabama
- Boise State
If the season ended today, here are the first-round matchups
So how would the first round of the playoff look? The top four teams would get a bye week. The top four seeds would go to the four highest-ranked conference champions, regardless of overall ranking. As we have been doing on a weekly basis, let’s project the current conference champions based on the highest-ranked teams.
- 5. Ohio State vs. 12. Boise State (Mountain West Conference champion)
- 6. Texas vs. 11. Alabama
- 7. Penn State vs. 10. Notre Dame
- 8. Tennessee vs. 9. Indiana
Penn State would get a first-round home game against Notre Dame if these rankings held through the end of the season. A home playoff game in Beaver Stadium against Notre Dame would be a dream matchup, and the kind of matchup that is why the playoff expanded in the first place (the same is true of Alabama-Texas). Of course, there is a lot of football to be played, so this could all change a week from now (and it likely will!)
Penn State now knows where they stand after their first setback. The playoff is there for the taking. First up will be this week’s home game against Washington. This week’s whiteout game will be in primetime on Peacock.
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