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Columbus, Ohio -- The Penn State football team is 9-2 entering the final week of the regular season.
What a ride it has been.
Most pundits had the Lions as either an 8-4 or 9-3 before the year began, but wins over Michigan at home and Michigan State plus Iowa on the road have the team in position for a 10-win regular season with just a date opposite Rutgers left before the postseason.
While some thought the Lions would beat one of the other opponents listed above, few saw head coach James Franklin’s team as having a chance to topple Ohio State. They did hang in with the Buckeyes, though, and thanks to some turnover luck, they were in position to tie the game.
The program was just a few plays, and players, away from doing that on this day, however. But there is nothing to be sad about when it comes to how fans should feel about this team and season. By many measures, it has already been a success, and there are opportunities to do more.
Like every week, the PennLive Penn State Sunday situation is back to look backward and ahead with one more game to go.
What does the bowl picture look like now?
The College Football Playoff selection committee will unveil its new top-25 on Tuesday night, and that will help give an outline as to which matchups some bowl games will host.
Question No. 1, as it relates to Penn State’s postseason plans, is where will it be in relation to Minnesota?
Penn State was ahead of the Golden Gophers last week by two spots, despite the latter’s head-to-head win over the former. Will that hold true again, even though PSU now has two losses and Minnesota one?
Further, what will happen based on the Wisconsin-Minnesota game next week? That will play a big role in determining things, too.
Right now, we’re still making PSU the favorite to represent the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl, but it’s also not out of the question that Minnesota, with a win over the Badgers and a close loss to OSU in the Big Ten title game, could nab it. In that case, the Orange and Cotton bowl committees might elect to take PSU if the right teams -- namely those from the SEC and Notre Dame -- fall below the Lions.
The Outback Bowl continues to be the floor, too, but it would really be a surprise at this point if Penn State does not make one of the New Year’s Six game. The committee seems to have a lot of respect for the Lions, which should help keep them in the correct part of the rankings.
What we learned
Offensively, we knew that quarterback Will Levis clearly had some talent, but it was very interesting to watch him continually plow over very good Ohio State defenders, and many of them did not seem like they had a good plan for wrestling him to the ground.
That positive aside, it’s hard to mount a comeback on the road in November if you can’t consistently throw the ball downfield, and Levis, either because of play call decisions or his own choices, did not do that often enough in the fourth quarter. His interception when the Lions were driving for points was back-breaking, too.
Defensively, while it was encouraging to see coordinator Brent Pry and his staff make good adjustments to put their players in better position to make stops after halftime, it was not great to see how long it took them to accomplish that. Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields made some incredible throws that no coverage could have stopped, but giving up two scoring drives of 75-plus yards is a good way to lose a close one at this point of the season.
Credit does and should go to Lamont Wade, however, as his three forced fumbles kept the Lions in the game, and linebacker Micah Parsons and end Yetur Gross-Matos both had terrific contests, as well.
Final word
James Franklin maybe said it best midway through his postgame news conference when asked what his message to the team was.
“There’s not a whole lot you can say to guys in the locker room at that moment,” he said. "I love them and I appreciate them. That will never change. It’s not result-oriented. They have unconditional love from me and the coaching staff. I’ve learned that’s not the time to make corrections. We’ll do that on Sunday.
“I’m proud of them, I love them, give Ohio State credit, and we still have a chance to go 1-0 this week to have double-digit wins, and go into a bowl game and try and get that one, and go from there.”
There really isn’t much more to elaborate on. Penn State missed some plays, failed to stop Ohio State early, and had to go to its backup quarterback for the final 22 minutes or so.
Some years, an 11-point loss at Ohio State might feel like a disaster, but this year, it feels like a fitting and acceptable result for a program that is inching closer to the top level but is not quite there yet.
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2019-11-24 12:00:00Z
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