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Before the start of the season, ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit suggested the winner of Penn State’s season opener against Wisconsin would have a good chance to quickly move up into the top 10 of the national rankings. Herbstreit’s vision became reality with Penn State taking just a couple of games to move up into the top 10 of the national polls. And Herbstreit continues to have a very positive outlook on the Nittany Lions.
On Sunday morning, Herbstreit shared a look at his latest top four teams in college football, along with his next two teams on the radar as discussions begin shifting a little bit more on the race to the College Football Playoff. If it were left in the hands of HErbstreit, it looks like Penn State would be in the playoff.
Herbstreit ranked Penn State No. 4 in his updated top four. Alabama and Georgia took the top two spots, respectively, and Oregon stayed ahead of the Nittany Lions for the No. 3 slot. Penn State came in ahead of Cincinnati and Florida.
What a weekend of CFB games!!
After the 1st month of the season this could be the toughest “top 4 + next 2” I’ve had to come up with. As we approach October next weekend.
1-@AlabamaFTBL
2-@GeorgiaFootball
3-@oregonfootball
4-@PennStateFball
Next 2@GoBearcatsFB @GatorsFB— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) September 26, 2021
As Herbstreit noted, this is a difficult top four to project right now given the widespread uncertainty around the country and with regular faces in the playoff conversation stumbling (Clemson) or teetering at times (Oklahoma and Notre Dame, aside from yesterday for the Fighting Irish).
Penn State still has a long way to go to prove they are worthy of a playoff spot of course, and making playoff predictions before the thick of conference play around the country gets going is nothing but a pure guessing game. But things have gone mostly well for Penn State, and there is still some room for improvement.
Penn State will be in Big Ten play for the rest of the season with plenty of hurdles to clear. That starts this week with a home game against Indiana, which is followed by a road trip to Iowa before reaching a bye week.
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