10/26/2021 football Edit

Penn State football bowl projections: Where it's slotted ahead of Week 9

Greg Pickel • Happy Valley Insider

Staff

Penn State's postseason aspirations took a crushing blow on Saturday when the Nittany Lions dropped a 20-18 contest in nine overtimes at home to Illinois.

Head coach James Franklin's program had been slotted in the New Year's Six bowl game conversation, and some even still saw the team as a College Football Playoff contender despite the Iowa loss three weekends ago.

That is no longer the case.

Ohio State welcomes the still not bowl eligible Nittany Lions this weekend, and a 17.5-point spread suggests they won't clinch win six there. Regardless, it's still a team that will head to some kind of final game following the regular season. Where will it be?

Here's what the experts are saying prior to Week 9.

Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford's health will play a big role in where the Nittany Lions end up in the postseason. AP photo

Expert bowl projections

Stewart Mandel of The Athletic: Dropped the Nittany Lions out of his New Year's Six projections.

Jerry Palm of CBS Sports: Outback Bowl vs. Texas A&M

College Football News Staff: Outback Bowl vs. Florida

Kyle Bonagua of ESPN: Outback Bowl vs. Florida

Mark Schlabach of ESPN: Outback Bowl vs. Arkansas

Action Network: Las Vegas Bowl vs. Arizona State

Saturday Tradition: Las Vegas Bowl vs. Arizona State

Blue-White Illustrated's take

The consensus is clearly the Outback Bowl. The Nittany Lions have played in that bowl game four times, starting with a blowout over Florida to end the 1995 season. All-time, Penn State is 3-1 in the game, with its lone loss to the Gators to cap the 2010 season. It is the fourth game on the Big Ten's list, starting with the CFP and then going to the Rose Bowl and Citrus.

Two outlets projecting the Las Vegas Bowl is interesting. That game was canceled in 2020 and last featured a 38-7 Washington win over Boise State in 2019. It rotates between the SEC and Big Ten yearly, and this is the latter's cycle, which is why the Lions could end up there. The PAC-12 will always play in the game.

Our hunch is to side with the Las Vegas Bowl at this point in time.