Penn State football moves into top 3 ahead of Big Ten Championship appearance

The stage is now set for Penn State football to face Oregon in a top-three title tilt next weekend in Indianapolis. The Nittany Lions are now ranked No. 3 in this week’s edition of the AP Poll and will square off against the top-ranked Ducks in Saturday night’s Big Ten Championship Game.

Not the frontrunner to reach the conference title game at the start of the weekend, the series of events was put into motion by Michigan’s 13-10 upset of No. 2 Ohio State Saturday afternoon. Eliminating the Buckeyes from contention and with Oregon having punched its ticket the week before, the second slot was determined through a tiebreaker between the 11-1 Nittany Lions and Indiana Hoosiers.

Penn State football throttled Maryland in its regular-season finale, downing the Terrapins 44-7. After a slow first quarter, the Nittany Lions exploded for 28 points in the second quarter en route to the 37-point victory.

The Nittany Lions now await their spot in the penultimate College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday night. Ranked No. 4 and seeded No. 6 last week, at worst case, Penn State should be looking at a home first-round playoff game with a loss in Indianapolis. A conference championship victory would earn the Nittany Lions a first-round bye.

The full AP top 25 is as follows:

1. Oregon
2. Texas
3. Penn State
4.  Notre Dame
5.  Georgia
6.  Tennessee
7.  Ohio State
8.  SMU
9.  Indiana
10.  Boise State
11.  Alabama
12.  Arizona State
13.  South Carolina
14.  Miami
15.  Ole Miss
16.  Iowa State
17.  BYU
18.  Clemson
19.  UNLV
20.  Colorado
21.  Illinois
22.  Missouri
23.  Syracuse
24.  Army
25.  Memphis

Penn State football also came in at No. 3 in the Coaches Poll earlier on Sunday.

Franklin: “Everybody deserves credit” in success of Penn State football

With Saturday’s win, James Franklin achieved his most successful regular season record during his tenure as Penn State football coach. The Nittany Lions have their first 11-win regular season since 2008 and will play for the Big Ten Championship for only the second time in the game’s history.

But despite the good fortune his Nittany Lions have experienced on the field this year, after the game, Franklin expressed that many people in Happy Valley deserve credit for Penn State’s success.

“This is the most competitive Big Ten there’s ever been, and to have your team ready to play week in and week out, it is very, very difficult to do, and it doesn’t happen very often,” Franklin said. “You look around college football, you watch the highlights, it’s not happening.

“So this team is finding a ton of different ways to win: blowouts, comebacks, overcoming adversity, winning because of defense, winning because of offense, winning because of special teams. When you play as many games as we do now in college football and the type of opponents that we play, you’re going to have to find different ways to get it done. It may not always be pretty, but I also think that’s the beauty in it, right?

“I’m proud of our guys. I’m proud of everybody in that locker room because everybody played a role in it. I’m so appreciative of the managers and how they run our practice every single day, the equipment people, the student managers and student trainers. They’re phenomenal. The D [development] squad has been great all year long. The grounds people that we got new sod in the stadium. Our grass was phenomenal from this time of year in this part of the country.

“All this stuff matters, and all this stuff adds up. [Athletic Director] Pat Kraft and his leadership, [he is] willing to fight for our program, which that hasn’t happened in the past. [University President] Neeli Bendapudi, who has been phenomenal. [Vice President] Michael Wade Smith, [Board of Trustees Chair Emeritus] Matt Schuyler, and [Board of Trustees Chair David] Kleppinger.

“Everybody deserves credit because you don’t win 11 games in this type of conference without everybody playing a role.”

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