Wyoming Area grad Dominic DeLuca (0) came up with a first-half interception that led to a field goal in Penn State’s 26-25 win over Minnesota on Saturday. The win helped the Nittany Lions hold steady at No. 4 in the College Football Playoff Committee’s rankings on Tuesday. That translates to a No. 6 seed and a home game in the first round.
Abbie Parr | AP photo
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Running back Jeremiyah Love (4) and Notre Dame are No. 5 in the new rankings, good for a projected No. 7 seed and a home game in the 12-team bracket next month.
Adam Hunger | AP photo
Penn State and Indiana had squared off for 17 straight seasons until this fall.
No one would have predicted the Big Ten foes could make it 18 in a row in December.
With the regular season down to just one more week followed by the conference championships, the College Football Playoff committee has the Nittany Lions and Hoosiers facing off in Tuesday’s latest rankings.
The committee didn’t penalize Penn State for a one-point escape from Minnesota on Saturday as the Lions held onto their No. 4 spot from the past few weeks.
Some pundits thought No. 4 Penn State and No. 5 Notre Dame might swap spots this week after the Fighting Irish crushed undefeated Army on Saturday.
CFP committee chairman Warde Manuel said the discussion came up, but the Lions remained ahead.
“There was a lot of discussion about those teams and how they have performed,” said Manuel, the athletic director and Michigan. “Penn State’s only loss is to the No. 2 team in the country. They have a win over No. 23 Illinois. Notre Dame has (a win) now over No. 20 Texas A&M as of today. Army is not in the rankings.
“Notre Dame’s loss was to Northern Illinois at the beginning of the year. But they’ve won nine straight games in a pretty dominant fashion since then. And so from our standpoint, resumes are pretty close in terms of how we see them. Obviously, with them ranked four and five.”
Indiana, meanwhile didn’t drop out of the field despite a decisive loss to Ohio State — the Hoosiers dropped five ranks down to No. 10.
With conference champions taking the top four bids in the newly expanded 12-team field, that would put Penn State as the No. 6 seed, hosting No. 11 seed Indiana in a first-round game at Beaver Stadium on Dec. 20 or Dec. 21. Notre Dame would host the 7-10 matchup that weekend with ACC finalist SMU currently holding the No. 10 seed.
It’s far from a guarantee that the final bracket will work out that way. But with so few games left to play, it’s a real possibility for the Lions and Hoosiers in particular.
First and foremost, both teams have to win their finale on Saturday as home favorites. Penn State is a 24½-point favorite against Maryland while Indiana is up to 28½ against rival Purdue. The Terrapins and Boilermakers enter the week in the bottom two spots in the Big Ten standings.
The Lions have an outside shot at reaching the Big Ten championship but would need Michigan to pull a major upset of Ohio State in Columbus on Saturday.
Barring that, the No. 6 seed is likely the ceiling for the Lions as most every projection has the No. 5 seed going to the loser of an Oregon vs. Ohio State rematch for the Big Ten title.
Could the Lions drop even with a win over the Terps? Possibly. If No. 3 Texas beats No. 20 Texas A&M on Saturday, then loses the SEC championship to Georgia, an 11-2 Longhorns team could slot in as the six-seed, pushing Penn State to seven.
Regardless, it’s hard to imagine any scenario in which the Lions don’t earn a home game in the first round if they beat Maryland.
Because of their lackluster strength of schedule, it’s not a guarantee the Hoosiers are in the final field even at 11-1 But their case was helped by both Alabama and Ole Miss suffering their third loss last week and dropping out of the picture.
Penn State is 25-2 all-time against Indiana, but the Hoosiers are having their best season in program history under new coach Curt Cignetti.
And that would be the top storyline of a potential matchup. Indiana fired Cignetti’s predecessor, Tom Allen, after last season, freeing him up to take Penn State’s open defensive coordinator job.
NATIONAL VIEW
(AP) — The SEC’s losses were almost everyone else’s gain in the College Football Playoff rankings, with SMU nudging its way into the top 12 and Indiana staying in the mix at No. 10 despite a lopsided loss of its own.
The 12-team bracket released Tuesday placed undefeated Oregon on top for the fourth straight week. It did not include Alabama or Mississippi of the SEC, both of which suffered their third losses of the season last week.
That helped move SMU up four spots to No. 9, joining No. 6 Miami to give the ACC two teams in the 12-team bracket. They could meet in the ACC title game in two weeks. Clemson, ranked 12th, is also in the mix.
“We’ve been in that position where, so far, our resume hadn’t been good enough, so we needed some help,” SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said a few hours before the rankings were released.
All eyes were on Indiana, and how harshly the committee would penalize the Hoosiers for their first loss of the season, a 38-15 thumping by No. 2 Ohio State. Cignetti scoffed at the idea the Hoosiers weren’t a playoff team. The selection committee agreed, only bumping the Hoosiers down five spots.
“We were impressed with some of the things Indiana did,” Manuel said. “They dropped five but we still felt their body of work was strong enough to remain in the top 10.”
The committee wasn’t nearly as generous to the Big 12. Losses by its top two teams last week — BYU and Colorado — vaulted Arizona State, which beat BYU, into the bracket.
The Sun Devils were ranked 16th. That afforded them the 12th and final spot in the bracket as the fifth-best projected conference champ, but gave the Big 12 the distinct feel of a one-bid league.
Another bid would belong to Boise State of the Mountain West. The Broncos were ranked 11th but got the fourth seed in the bracket as the fourth-best projected conference champion.
SEC leader Texas was ranked third.
Alabama dropped six spots to No. 13 and Ole Miss dropped five spots to No. 14. Both are out of the mix, but not completely out of the question, as the committee wrestles over the next two weeks with whether a three-loss team belongs in the playoff.
“The appetite is there to rank the teams as we see them,” Manuel said, while pointing out that in the 10-year history of the CFP, the committee has placed 22 three-loss teams in the top 12.
Before this year, of course, only the top four seeds mattered.
Other rankings: No. 4 Penn State, No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 7 Georgia and No. 8 Tennessee.
There are two more rankings to come out — next week, then the last one on Dec. 8, which will set the pairings for the playoffs that start Dec. 20. The national title game is set for Jan. 20 in Atlanta.
GAMES TO WATCH
• Michigan at No. 2 Ohio State: A Buckeyes win sets up a rematch with Oregon in the Big Ten title game (with a third meeting possible in the playoffs).
• No. 3 Texas at No. 20 Texas A&M: The winner plays Georgia for the SEC title. The Longhorns would presumably make the 12-team bracket either way.
• No. 15 South Carolina at No. 12 Clemson: The Palmetto Bowl for a chance to stay on the fringes of consideration for the CFP.
PROJECTED MATCHUPS
Teams listed by seed, not ranking.
• No. 12 Arizona State at No. 5 Ohio State: Fun fact: The Big 12 is NOT guaranteed a spot in these playoffs, and Tulane of the American Athletic Conference is No. 17, only one spot behind ASU.
• No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Georgia: The Bulldogs are vulnerable to a third loss in the SEC title game. This would be rematch of Georgia’s 31-17 win on Nov. 16.
• No. 11 Indiana at No. 6 Penn State: An argument could be made that had these Big Ten foes played this season, both might not be here.
• No. 10 SMU at No. 7 Notre Dame: They haven’t squared off since 1989, but are scheduled to play again in 2026.