Penn State Choked Against Ohio State, But Should Still Be Top 6 in the College Football Playoff Rankings
By Jason McIntyre
Penn State choked away two 18-point leads at Ohio State, and even an 11-point 4th quarter lead. It was embarrassing stuff from James Franklin to go conservative offensive late. The defense was shredded by JT Barrett, who redeemed himself from a horrendous showing against Oklahoma earlier this season.
Statistically, OSU dominated Penn State: 529 yards to 283; 6.8 yards per play to 4.4. Despite giving up a long kickoff return touchdown to Saquon Barkley to open the game, and then a long TD run, the Heisman Trophy favorite was largely bottled up (21 carries, 44 yards; 4 catches, 23 yards).
Nevertheless, if you watched the game, there’s no way you could come away thinking that the Nittany Lions don’t deserve a Top 5 spot in the College Football Playoff rankings, which will be released Tuesday. Here’s my best guess:
1. Alabama
2. Georgia
Both are undefeated, and although Georgia has the slightly more impressive resume, you couldn’t get anyone to say the Bulldogs are the better team. After that:
3. Ohio State
4. Notre Dame
5. Clemson
6. Penn State
How to rank the best 1-loss teams? Ohio State only has one quality win (home vs Penn State), Notre Dame has quality wins over Michigan State (on the road), USC and NC State. Clemson defeated Auburn (at home), Louisville, and Virginia Tech. Penn State’s best wins are against Iowa (on the road) and Michigan.
If you really want to look at resume, Ohio State should be 6th, but it’d have a chance to rise with a win next week at Iowa, and the following week against Michigan State. Michigan looms in the final week, though few think the Wolverines will have a chance. After that:
7. Miami
8. Wisconsin
9. TCU
10. Oklahoma State
Miami and Wisconsin remain undefeated, but neither has the resume yet. TCU has a better body of work than Oklahoma State, and beat them. I give both of those teams an ever-so-slight edge over Oklahoma at this point. TCU lost at Iowa State; Oklahoma lost to Iowa State at home.