Penn State is cruising into its bye week with a good reason to still believe this season is heading to a return to the College Football Playoff. Despite some mild concerns about the status of the offense, the Nittany Lions are 3-0 and have a week to fine-tune whatever is needed before jumping into Big Ten play in Week 4 with one of the toughest teams on the schedule, Oregon. The Big Ten championship game rematch between Penn State and Oregon could also serve as a potential College Football Playoff preview.
Erick Smith of USA TODAY has updated his bowl projections and College Football Playoff outlook for the season following the results of Week 3, including Penn State’s victory over Villanova. According to Smith’s latest update, the Nittany Lions are still on track for one of the top four seeds in the playoff, which comes with a first-round bye. Smith has Penn State taking the No. 3 seed in the postseason, while Ohio State takes the top seed as the projected Big Ten champion. That would allow Ohio State to take the spot in the Rose Bowl while Penn State would get a spot in the Cotton Bowl.
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As for who Penn State would face, Smith has the Ducks advancing to setup the rematch after winning a first-round home game against Florida State. According to Smith’s projections, Florida State would be an at-large entrant to the postseason. That would be a CFP rematch of one of the semifinal games from the inaugural playoff games in 2014 when Oregon ran over then-defending national champion Florida State.
Smith projects Penn State would get past Oregon in the Cotton Bowl to grab a spot in the semifinals against No. 2 seed Georgia. But the end would run there, according to Smith as he has Georgia facing Ohio State in the national championship game.
You can see all of Smith’s latest College Football Playoff and bowl projections to see at the postseason could look.
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This article originally appeared on Nittany Lions Wire: Updated College Football Playoff and bowl projections entering Week 4
