Tag: Musings

Coming into the 2024 football season, the Penn State Nittany Lions had never made the College Football Playoff. Prior to this year, it was a 4-team affair, and the Lions had been on the outside looking in several times.

The closest they’d come was in 2016, after winning the Big Ten and finishing #5 in the rankings, one spot outside. They’d also flirted with it several times, but always finished just outside of that top 4.

With the 2024 season came two big changes: the expansion of the playoff to 12 teams, and the removal of divisions in the Big Ten with the addition of the four former Pac-12 teams.

Suddenly, Penn State had as advantageous a path to the playoff as they’d had since the CFP’s inception.

One “major” test on the schedule in Ohio State, no Michigan, no Oregon. Tests at West Virginia, USC, Wisconsin, and Minnesota seemed tough but doable.

And so it went.

The Lions finished the regular season 11-1, and while they ran into some hurdles along the way, they ultimately cleared them all.

That alone would have met – or possibly exceeded – expectations for the regular season, as the Lions had not finished with fewer than 2 losses ever under James Franklin.

Yet somehow, the Lions qualified for the Big Ten Championship Game thanks to a mammoth upset of Ohio State by Michigan.

And so another expectation was met: competing for the B1G title.

Now, the Lions did not win that game, but it ended up not having a major impact on another major expectation for this year: making the College Football Playoffs. And in fact, despite not getting a first round bye, losing may have ended up being even better for the Lions. Because they got an undeniably fortuitous path to the semifinals: taking on ACC-runner up SMU at home, and then taking on Mountain West champ Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl.

The path was so fortuitous, in fact, that expectations for the playoffs were adjusted.

It went from simply making the playoffs, to winning at least the first round game, to having to win both the first around and the quarterfinal games for Penn State’s trip to the playoffs to be considered a success this year.

And so it went.

The Lions took down SMU 38-10 in the frigid central Pennsylvania cold. The Lions beat Boise State 31-14 in the Fiesta Bowl.

And now they’re off the semifinals and the Orange Bowl, awaiting their opponent.

For me, all expectations for this season have already been met:

• 11-1 regular season
• Big Ten Conference Championship Game appearance
• Playoff berth
• Home playoff game – and win
• Quarterfinal appearance – and win
• Semifinal appearance

From here on out, Penn State is playing with house money. Regardless of opponent, the Lions have done at least what people have asked of them, and in many ways done more as goalposts moved over the course of the season.

All I ask of the Lions at this point is to play loose. They have house money in my mind. Play to their abilities, do their best, and have fun. Are they better than either Georgia or Notre Dame?

Who knows. We’ll find out next week.

But I don’t see any reason why they should cower before either opponent. They’ve met or exceeded all expectations so far.

Why not one more time?