WOGENRICH Upsets give Penn State a new playoff reality

If the Pac-12 joins the Big 12 as Power Five conferences not getting a team in this season, that means we will see the Big Ten or the ACC get a second team in.

Penn State in the Big Ten championship game.

Penn State finds itself with a totally believable path..

The Buckeyes went down and I said, don’t worry about it, they control their own destiny. The Panthers have a 2-8 record this season and a 9-38 mark during Miles’ tenure.

This three-way tie was forced due to MI losing on Saturday. Pittsburgh hit a 48-yard field goal to beat Clemson 43-42 while Iowa used a freshman kicker to topple MI as time ran out, 14-13. Michigan State and Rutgers, the only teams Michigan had beaten away from Ann Arbor, had yet to win a Big Ten game until the Spartans throttled the Scarlet Knights on Saturday.

This is Michigan State’s Super Bowl given that it can’t make a bowl game and this season overall has downright sucked.

Meyer is preaching, just as he’s done all season, one game at a time. Either Michigan or Ohio State could lose this week and then beat the other next week, with the other team doing the reverse.

That’s important because, at potentially No. 8, Penn State moves into striking distance of a playoff slot with three weeks remaining in the season. Against Kent State in its most recent outing, Mississippi Valley State allowed the Golden Flashes to grab 24 offensive rebounds – two more than the Delta Devils had in total – and that led to 29 second-chance points.

Whether or not revenge fueled them in any way, the Buckeyes came out of East Lansing with a 49-37 win. They blocked. They played a very good football game. Thank you, Big Ten tie-breakers.

For Meyer, it was mostly about his team’s ranking and how the Big Ten East was shaping up with MI and Penn State fighting for the top spot.

What about Clemson? They can still win the ACC. It’s obviously way too early to be looking at the PairWise rankings, but right now Penn State, Ohio State and Minnesota are in the top-16 and Wisconsin is No. 18.

All that’s left for Michigan State now is the chance to impact the Big Ten East race in their final two games against Big Ten East co-leaders Ohio State and Penn State. But, to take a page out of Coach Franklin’s book, for now let’s keep the focus on Rutgers. Barrett has two or more touchdown passes in four of his last eight games.

If the Buckeyes are able to soundly put away the Spartans on the road it will further galvanize their confidence as they host MI next Saturday.

How Barrett plays this weekend against Michigan State will tell us whether or not the Buckeyes are ready to beat the Wolverines.

But what if Wisconsin wins the Big Ten? I’m not expecting Meyer to do something as stupid as that in this matchup, but I guess one never knows. “We just look at what Michigan State is and what they’ve been in the past, the talent level and coaching staff”. However, much to the credit of James Franklin and his players, the Nittany Lions have turned it around. Then the question becomes if the playoff committee will install Ohio State in the top four without a conference championship on its resume.