The 2019 season ended with Penn State having an offensive explosion in the Cotton Bowl against the Memphis Tigers. The Nittany Lions ended the regular season ranked No. 10 in the final College Football Playoff rankings prior to the postseason. That would have included Penn State in the playoff and sent them on the road for the first round against No. 7 Baylor.
2019 College Football Playoff First-Round Matchups
- No. 5 Georgia vs. No. 12 Auburn
- No. 6 Oregon vs. No. 11 Utah
- No. 7 Baylor vs. No. 10 Penn State
- No. 8 Wisconsin vs. No. 9 Florida
Penn State also would have been the last team in the College Football Playoff in 2018. Penn State ended the regular season ranked No. 12 in the final playoff rankings, which means Penn State would have been on the road for a first-round matchup against No. 5 Notre Dame. No easy road trip, of course, but just the possibility of seeing a matchup between two storied and iconic programs like Penn State and Notre Dame on a college campus with these kinds of stakes on the line is enticing.
But check out some of these other potential 2018 matchups that could have been. SEC teams heading into Big Ten territory? Oh yeah!
2018 College Football Playoff First-Round Matchups
- No. 5 Notre Dame vs. No. 12 Penn State
- No. 6 Georgia vs. No. 11 LSU
- No. 7 Michigan vs. No. 10 Florida
- No. 8 UCF vs. No. 9 Washington
Penn State also would have been a playoff team in 2017, when the Nittany Lions ended the regular season ranked No. 9 in the final College Football Playoff ranking. Once again, that would have sent Penn State on the road for a first-round matchup, this time in Los Angeles against No. 8 USC, a rematch of the previous season’s classic Rose Bowl won by the Trojans in crushing fashion.
2017 College Football Playoff First-Round Matchups
- No. 5 Alabama vs. No. 12 UCF
- No. 6 Wisconsin vs. No. 11 Washington
- No. 7 Auburn vs. No. 10 Miami
- No. 8 USC vs. No. 9 Penn State
And then there is the year Penn State won the Big Ten, in 2016. Under the proposed structure of the 12-team format, Penn State would have received a bye in the first-round as one of the four highest-ranked conference champions. The others would have been No. 1 Alabama (SEC), No. 2 Clemson (ACC), and No. 4 Washington (Pac-12). Despite being ranked fifth by the selection committee, the Big Ten championship trophy would have moved Penn State ahead of No. 3 Ohio State in the top four seeding.
That would have dropped the Buckeyes into the No. 5 seed despite the No. 3 ranking, and given Ohio State a home game against Oklahoma State (and offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich).
2016 College Football Playoff First-Round Matchups
- No. 5 Ohio State vs. No. 12 Oklahoma State
- No. 6 Michigan vs. No. 11 Florida State
- No. 7 Oklahoma vs. No. 10 Colorado
- No. 8 Wisconsin vs. No. 9 USC
The track record is there for Penn State to be one of the programs that can take advantage of an expanded College Football Playoff field if it does indeed go to 12 teams.
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