9/13/2021 football Edit

Penn State football bowl projections: Where Lions are slotted before Week 3

Greg Pickel • Happy Valley Insider

Staff

Penn State moved into the top-10 of the Associated Press top-25 after a 44-13 win over Ball State, and that has kept the Nittany Lions in the New Year's Six bowl game conversation after two weeks of the college football season.

Analysts from across the country have not yet moved head coach James Franklin's program into the College Football Playoff talk despite Ohio State's loss to Oregon, but that could change if the team knocks off Auburn on Saturday during the Whiteout game at Beaver Stadium. Conversely, sites like CBS Sports say that the Buckeyes' loss actually bumps PSU back in the bowl game pecking order.

Let's look at the current PSU bowl projections ahead of Week 3.

Penn State head coach James Franklin greets a stadium worker while arriving to Beaver Stadium before the NCAA college football game against Ball State in State College, Pa., on Saturday, Sept.11, 2021. (AP Photo/Barry Reeger)

Expert bowl projections

Jerry Palm of CBS Sports: Outback Bowl vs. LSU

College Football News Staff: Peach Bowl vs. Florida

Kyle Bonagua of ESPN: Fiesta Bowl vs. Cincinnati

Mark Schlabach of ESPN: Citrus Bowl vs. Texas A&M

Action Network: Fiesta Bowl vs. UCF

Saturday Tradition: Fiesta Bowl vs. Notre Dame

Blue-White Illustrated's take

Some experts have knocked Ohio State out of the Playoff pecking order, and that has moved the Nittany Lions back beyond the New Year's Six bowls by some accounts. Certainly not all of them, though, as you can see in the rundown above.

Which one is the most likely landing spot for Penn State ahead of Week 3?

This space is leaning toward the Peach Bowl at this point in time. Penn State has never played there, and it would be the perfect opportunity for them to do so instead of returning to the Fiesta, where they were in 2018.

Of course, the rest of the season is in front of us, so this will all sort itself out in due time. But, based on two weeks of action, it's easier to envision the Lions again making a New Year's Six bowl as opposed to playing in either the Citrus or the Outback. But, if it does ultimately come down to one of those two, the latter feels more likely than the former.