McSorley leads Penn State to Big Ten title

And ended up on the outside looking in Sunday.

Penn State, which won the Big Ten championship and beat Ohio State, but lost 2 others games?

The four teams that made the College Football Playoff were Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Washington. Washington dominated Colorado to win the Pac-12 title, but the College Football Playoff committee has consistently complained about the strength of the Huskies’ nonconference schedule.

Penn State (11-2) didn’t get the result it wanted, but it is part of that conversation with the 1-2 punch of Ohio State (11-1) and MI (10-2) at the top of the Big Ten East Division. Because it’s a good indication that each of these teams are legitimately competitive this season – and that, along with Penn State’s continued level of play, may be a good indication that the Big Ten’s early, nonleague play may pay off come March. “We looked at one-loss Washington, that loss being against a top 10 opponent compared to a two-loss Penn State team”. Wisconsin and Penn State will play in two prestigious bowl games for two well deserved seasons.

But for a Penn State team that spent the entire season proving everyone wrong – including me, who picked the Lions to finish 8-5 overall – what better way to stick it to the selection committed than to beat the only team that beat Washington?

After the game, Franklin was asked about the College Football Playoff and urged everyone to focus on how his Nittany Lions finished. The Nittany Lions will play in the Rose Bowl now, which formerly was the grand prize in the Big Ten. “Three wins over CFP top-10 teams, including what possibly will be defined as the game of the year, the victory they had over MI”. The Nittany Lions drove 75 yards in five plays for that score. James Franklin and the Penn State Football team are very happy this morning.

“We talked to our coaches about what they saw in the performance of these two teams on the field, not just in one particular game, but over the course of 13 games”.

Unfortunately for the Badgers, they might be without starting quarterback Alex Hornibrook, who was was listed as questionable after suffering a head injury November 26 against Minnesota. Could Penn State have done the same thing? The Wolverines out-gained Penn State by 299 yards and thoroughly ran the Nittany Lions out of the stadium. But that’s certainly what happened here, as 12-1 Washington was picked over 11-2 Penn State and 10-2 MI. Won battles up front to slow the Wisconsin running game enough to get the Lions back in the game. On the first play against LSU and the last play against Penn State, Bart Houston took the handoff under center, turned left and handed it off right to Corey Clement, with Austin Ramesh leading the way from the backfield. Penn State won the game, 38-31.

If you love big plays, this was your game.

Penn State: RB Saquon Barkley.