Penn State is a popular College Football Playoff pick for the 2025/2026 season. The Nittany Lions beat a lower-seeded SMU and a higher-seeded Boise State before succumbing to Notre Dame in the semifinals during their run — and that experience benefits them, who added big-game experience under head coach James Franklin and with Drew Allar at center in the process.
PSU got close but came up cigar-less. But so did the last two national champions from the Big Ten.
Ohio State’s Ryan Day conquered his big-game yips this past January with Ohio State’s first national championship since the 2014/2015 season. Before him, it was Jim Harbaugh who got his program over the hump after two tries in the CFP.
USA Today’s Matt Hayes named Harbaugh’s Michigan teams in 2022 and 2023 as a bellwether for what Penn State could be this fall.
“The experience of being there. We could talk about the talent returning on both sides of the ball, new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles and how Penn State’s roster matches up with anyone in college football,” Hayes wrote.
“But there’s intrinsic value in being there, doing that. Which, of course, Penn State hadn’t done in the playoff prior to last season. Think Michigan under Jim Harbaugh, which took two CFP trips to figure it out.”
Hayes’ negative spin on the Nittany Lions’ title hopes mostly revolved around Franklin’s lack of big-game wins. Beating Group of Five and Big 12 schools is a different beast than the high-priced superpowers in Ann Arbor, Columbus, and Eugene.
Still, the Day and Harbaugh models suggest losing and paying dues is necessary before winning championships. And as Kirby Smart and Ed Orgeron could also tell you from down south, it’s not just a Big Ten thing.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
