Penn State will face USC in Rose Bowl

Speaking on the ESPN selection show, Hocutt said the committee chose the Huskies for the No. 4 seed over the Nittany Lions because “the selection committee believes they’re a better football team”. It’s similar to a year ago, when there when there also weren’t enough.500 teams to fill all the spots.

Now, the fun part: We pick the next four!

As predicted after the Buckeyes were No. 2 in the next-to-last playoff rankings, they were going to be in the playoff with an 11-1 record regardless of what happened Saturday in the Big Ten championship game.

The playoff debate between those three teams was as intense as ever.

Penn State, which will play USC in the Rose Bowl, now has the opportunity for the rare double “I told you so”. But you can also say that if Penn State beat Pitt it would have benefited from playing a hard nonconference schedule.

“Coach Petersen has done a fantastic job of developing this team to be one of the best teams in the country”, Saban said. That’s not discounting the rest of the conference.

Throughout this season, most people saw MI as the team to beat in the Big Ten. Wisconsin was in that conversation this year.

The argument for putting in the Nittany Lions, who are riding a nine game winning streak, is as strong as Alan Dershowitz defending the State of Israel against any perceived sleight, or his case for Hillary over Donald in the Presidential election. Those games in the mid- to late-90s were legendary. The Nittany Lions embody that popular saying like no other team has done in quite a while. Why not just have every team in the land bidding for the national title?

“It’s great to be here”, said Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, who also became a grandfather for the first time on Sunday. Playing on a stage like that, it’s an away game, hostile environment. The video features pregame speeches from strength coach Mickey Marroitti, Meyer, and quarterback J.T. Barrett along with highlights starting with the 2015 semifinal game when the Buckeyes beat Alabama and all the way up to the double-overtime win over MI in the regular season finale.

Defense: USC – The Trojans will be tested by the explosive Penn State offense, but they allowed the second-fewest plays of at least 10 yards in the Pac-12. MI isn’t going away either.

Ohio State is the third seed in this tournament and the Buckeyes were 11-1 on the season. The Wolverines’ two losses (Iowa, Ohio State) came on the road on the final play of the game, and a controversial spot led to the Buckeyes’ game-winning score.

“We are confident”, Hancock said Sunday, “that four is the right number”. You’ve got to have luck along the way and have a lot of things – the ball (has to) bounce your way.

What do you think of the college football playoff seedings? In the end, it was that loss to Pitt that probably made the difference. It’s up to the committee to decide the best four teams.

But ultimately, that victory couldn’t push Penn State past the one-loss teams already ranked ahead of them that held serve over the weekend in their respective championship games.

After Baylor’s abysmal nonconference schedule had been called into question in each of the first two years of the playoff, the Big 12 also issued a scheduling mandate throughout the league to help boost strength of schedule.