Penn State football learns ranking, seeding for first-ever College Football Playoff appearance

For the first time ever, Penn State football is heading to the College Football Playoff. With the release of the final rankings for the first-ever 12-team playoff on Sunday afternoon, the Nittany Lions officially learned their path to the National Championship.

Following Saturday night’s 45-37 loss to top-ranked Oregon in the Big Ten Championship Game, the Nittany Lions fell from No. 3 to No. 5 in the final CFP rankings. But because four teams ranked behind Penn State won conference championships and earned first-round byes (Georgia, Arizona State, Boise State, and Clemson), James Franklin will lead his program into the postseason as the No. 6 seed.

However, the seeding is enough for Penn State football to earn a home game in the first round. The Nittany Lions will play host to No. 10/No. 11-seed SMU on Saturday, December 21, at noon.

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“I’m going to be honest with you, I don’t spend a ton of time on that,” Franklin said in the moments after the Big Ten Championship Game when asked if he thought Penn State football had earned the right to host a playoff game. “We literally spent the entire week on Oregon. And for me to sit here and feel like I can understand or predict how those things are going to go when you got all those people in that room and all those personalities, I’m not sure.

“I’m fairly confident that we’re going to be in the playoffs. I can speak on that. And I know these guys and myself and the rest of the guys in the locker room will be excited about the opportunity that comes.

“Do I think our resumé matches up with anybody in the country? Yeah, I think it does. Again, we lost by one possession to the No. 1 team in the country. And I think earlier in the season we lost to the No. 3 team in the country at the time, if I remember correctly. Is that correct? And a one-possession game as well.

“So I don’t think there’s anybody in the country that’s got that type of resumé in the Big Ten, arguably the best conference in all of college football.

© Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

“So, again, I’m not in that room. We don’t make those decisions. We’ll be waiting eagerly to find out who we play and then we’ll take all the necessary strategies and planning to put ourselves and our team in the best position to be successful.

“And wherever the game is, we’re going to need our fans. If it’s a home game, which would be phenomenal, we’re going to need that place rocking like it’s never rocked before. And we’ll go from there.”

Penn State football put up its fourth-highest point total of the season on Saturday night, scoring 37 points while gaining 518 yards on offense. However, after falling behind by 18 in the first half, the Nittany Lions could not ultimately keep pace with the high-powered Oregon offense. The Ducks found the end zone on six of 11 possessions, excluding the final kneel-down.

The College Football Playoff rankings and seedings are as follows:

1.  Oregon (first round bye)
2.  Georgia (first round bye)
3.  Texas (seeded No. 5; hosts first round playoff game)
4.  Penn State (seeded No. 6; hosts first round playoff game)
5.  Notre Dame (seeded No. 7; hosts first round playoff game)
6.  Ohio State (seeded No. 8; hosts first round playoff game)
7. Tennessee (seeded No. 9)
8.  Indiana (seeded No. 10)
9. Boise State (seeded No. 3; first round bye)
10.  SMU (seeded No. 11)
11.  Alabama
12. Arizona State (seeded No. 4; first round bye)

Outside the top 12 of the rankings, No. 16 Clemson will be seeded No. 12 and travel to play Texas in the first round.

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