Regardless of Record, Penn State Absolutely Can't Be Allowed To Participate in the College Football Playoff

I don't care if Penn State finishes this season 11-1, which it likely will; that team cannot be allowed into the College Football Playoff.

I would have imagined the James Franklin Special — beating every dogshit team on the schedule and losing the only game or two that matter — would get the Nittany Lions into a 12-team Playoff field every year, but I have re-thought my stance on that. There are going to end up being a handful of teams who probably don't deserve to be in that gets spots, but Penn State needs to be one of the last ones in consideration. I've been fooled for the last time.

Ohio State isn't incredible, either, and the Buckeyes only put up 20 points in Happy Valley. That should have been a good enough defensive performance to give Penn State a chance to win, but the Nittany Lions got into the red zone three times — and inside the 5-yard line twice — and scored a grand total of three points. They didn't score an offensive touchdown. This is just not a very good football team.

I will be very interested to see where PSU is slotted when the first CFP rankings come out on Tuesday. If and when Illinois eventually drops out of the Top 25, Penn State will end the season without a ranked win. It's going to be one of the worst 11-1 résumés you could ever draw up.

I'm sure Franklin and Co. will probably wind up in the Playoff just because an 11-1 Big Ten team will be difficult to exclude, but it will absolutely not be because they earned it.