Final Rankings Predictions For Top Four Teams

The Nittany Lions’ furious second-half run came after a first half Wisconsin dominated early and in just about every facet of the game.

Who: No. 7 Penn State (10-2, 8-1 Big Ten) vs.

But the Nittany Lions – while many questioned if they were deserving of representing the Big Ten East Division over Ohio State and MI — shockingly developed into the Big Ten’s most explosive offense this year under first-year coordinator Joe Moorhead.

The fact that Penn State went out and won the Big Ten Championship now causes a bit of a conundrum for the committee. Win and get some help and the Nittany Lions are in the College Football Playoff for the first time.

The Big 12 is about to be 1 for 3 in making the College Football Playoff. “We’ve done that. It’s up to you, committee”. The only thing more impressive than Trace McSorley (384 yards and four touchdowns through the air) was the play of his receivers, who made one gorgeous catch after another. “I’ll leave it at that”. The Nittany Lions drove 75 yards in five plays for that score. It was Penn State’s first lead of the game after trailing by as much as 21 points in the first half. Whatever bowl they wind up in, they’ll have a chance to end a season of widely unexpected success with eleven wins.

The game-within-the-game will pit Penn State’s explosive offense versus Wisconsin’s stingy defense.

McSorley, who leads the nation in passing yards-per completion and the Big Ten in passing efficiency, has thrown just five interceptions this season. Ohio State has the better resume and they earned their way back. “I think the committee has suggested that in their earlier years”, Delany said on ESPN’s College GameDay. The Nittany Lions defeated OR 38-20 in the 1995 game but fell to Southern California in their other two trips, in 2009 and 1923.

The CFP committee had it relatively easy this year. MI earned three wins over top-10 opponents and took the No. 3 team in the country to double overtime on the road just a weekend ago. And the Huskies are 12-1 with big road wins over Stanford, Utah and Washington State, and a win in the Pac-12 championship over Colorado, but they have a weak non-conference schedule. It would take some serious creativity to deny a Pac-12 champion that lost only to a surging USC. However, that game was not much of a contest, as eventual-champion Alabama destroyed Michigan State, 38-0.

MI was in the playoff discussion despite finishing third in the division, and that setback Franklin referenced might have been a 49-10 loss to the Wolverines in September.

Penn State’s Steven Gonzalez (57) lifts teammate Saquon Barkley (26) after Barkley scored on a 18-yard touchdown reception during the second half of the Big Ten championship NCAA college football game against Wisconsin, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2016, in Indianapolis.

The Huskies’ only loss was to Southern California and its nonconference schedule featured FCS Portland State, Rutgers and Idaho.

The team also has what can not be measured – heart. Not so great if you root for Penn State.

Wisconsin, armed with a pair of timeouts and lining up for a fourth-and-1 play from the Nittany Lions’ 24, called on Corey Clement.

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney cautioned that more postseason would lessen the value of the regular season and that adding another round would require eliminating other games.