The College Football Playoff rankings were updated Monday night, and Penn State managed to move up into the top 11, which puts the Nittany Lions in a solid position for a chance to play in a New Years Six bowl game.
Penn State is ranked No. 11 in the updated College Football Playoff rankings. Penn State moved up three spots in this week’s rankings, just as they did in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll and the AP Top 25. The Nittany Lions capitalized on a shutout victory over Maryland and losses by Oregon, Ole Miss, and UCLA. All three fell below Penn State in the latest playoff rankings, just like in the other polls this week.
The top four teams in the latest rankings are Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, and TCU.
Penn State remains in a good position to make an appearance in the New Years Six bowl lineup, although the College Football Playoff is a pipe dream at best at this stage. But a spot in the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, or Cotton Bowl are all still in play.
The Rose Bowl will take the Big Ten champion or the highest-ranked Big Ten team available after the College Football Playoff field. That spot will be most likely to go to the loser of the Ohio State-Michigan game, although the possibility of both the Buckeyes and Wolverines reaching the playoff is still in play. That would leave the Rose Bowl wide open for the Big Ten’s spot, and Penn State is the only other team on the radar at this point.
And with that, here's a look at your full #CFBPlayoff Top 25 for games played through Saturday, November 12.
— College Football Playoff (@CFBPlayoff) November 16, 2022
The Orange Bowl will take the ACC champion or the highest-ranked ACC option if the champion is in the College Football Playoff for its tie-in spot. The other spot goes to the highest-ranked available team from the Big Ten, SEC, or Notre Dame once tie-ins and the playoff are filled in. As of now, that spot appears to be likely to be filled by either LSU or Alabama, who has fallen out of SEC title consideration and thus would not be likely to be representing the SEC in the Sugar Bowl. Right now, having both LSU and Alabama sitting ahead of Penn State complicates things a bit, because Tennessee is also sitting just outside of the playoff mix. The Vols would be slotted for the Sugar Bowl as the SEC’s representative if these rankings were to hold, which would bump LSU down to the Orange Bowl and Alabama as an at-large option for the Cotton Bowl. But if Tennessee gets into the top four or if Alabama were to lose to Auburn, well, let’s not go overboard just yet.
Then there is the Cotton Bowl, which is open to two at-large teams available after all tie-ins are accounted for. This is the most likely scenario for Penn State, which would mark a trip back to Penn State’s most recent trip to a NY6 bowl game, the 2019 Cotton Bowl against Memphis. If Penn State goes to the Cotton Bowl, another matchup against the AAC champion is a popular bowl projection with UCF moving into more projections following their win over Tulane last weekend.
Of course, for any of this conversation to remain relevant, Penn State has to take care of business in its final two games of the regular season. This weekend, Penn State visits Rutgers in the final road game of the season.
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