If you told a Penn State fan that their team has a chance to go to the College Football Playoff back in January, they probably would have laughed at you. The team seemed to be in a transition period after James Franklin’s dismissal caused tens of players to transfer.
However, new head coach Matt Campbell quickly changed the narrative around the Nittany Lions, building solid recruiting classes for the future and making no excuses for why his team can’t compete. Now, just a week into the season, he has his team positioned nicely to make a run at the playoff.
ESPN updated its Football Power Index after the Week 1 slate, and Penn State’s odds to clinch a playoff berth rose from 22.8% last week to 31.5% currently. The process of calculating playoff odds is
a long and complicated one, but this surge likely has a lot to do with Michigan’s performance against Western Michigan. The Wolverines needed a Hail Mary on the last play of the game to survive, and the subpar performance could be reflected in this week’s US LBM Coaches Poll.
This development makes the Oct. 17 matchup between the teams exponentially more important. Michigan used to be a team you could automatically chalk up as a loss for Penn State, but this could be one of the more vulnerable Wolverines teams in recent memory.
With only two other ranked teams on the Nittany Lions’ schedule besides Michigan, if they pick up a win at The Big House, they’d possibly control their own playoff destiny. There are still far too many games left to be played for the team to start thinking about the playoffs, but that doesn’t mean we can’t dream about it.
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This article originally appeared on Nittany Lions Wire: Penn State’s College Football Playoff odds rising after chaotic Week 1
