With seven wins under the belts for the 2021 college football season, Penn State is heading to a postseason bowl game. It may not be the grand bowl destination it looked as though Penn State could be on track for in the first half of the season, but after sitting out of the bowl season voluntarily in 2020 Penn State will take whatever opportunity it gets to travel to a bowl game this bowl season.
But projecting the Big Ten’s bowl picture heading into conference championship weekend is still a big guessing game. A Michigan victory over Iowa in the Big Ten Championship Game will send the Wolverines off to the College Football Playoff, allowing every team in the Big Ten to be bumped up a spot in the Big Ten bowl picture, meaning Ohio State could head to the Rose Bowl without so much as a division championship. But an Iowa win still throws a few curveballs our way.
But as for Penn State, a spot in a pre-January 1 appears to be the only outcome for the Nittany Lions. It’s just a matter of playing before or after Christmas at this point.
With bowl announcements coming up later this weekend, here is where Penn State is currently being projected for the bowl season by a variety of national experts.