With a win against Rutgers on Saturday afternoon, Penn State football is now bowl-eligible, finishing the regular season with six wins. Unfortunately for Penn State, while it probably has a lot more talent than a team that will be playing in something like the Pinstripe Bowl, it can’t be too upset about where it gets placed in a bowl game.
Penn State didn’t play the type of football it needed to throughout the season and, unfortunately, will have to pay the price for that.
When examining what others have said about where Penn State could play in a bowl game, Sydney Ciano of Victory Bell Rings had some intriguing thoughts about what things could look like for the Nittany Lions. She examined what other outlets had to say, with one of them suggesting that Penn State could be playing in the Quick Lane Bowl.
“The Big Ten v. MAC matchup is held in Ford Field, Detroit on Dec. 26 at 1 p.m. ET. Both Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach have Penn State playing in this bowl, but against different teams. Bonagura thinks the Nittany Lions will face off with Ohio while Schlabach has them meeting Western Michigan.
“The Bobcats are third in the MAC with a 7-4 overall record set to meet Buffalo in Week 14. The Broncos are first in the conference at 8-4 overall and head to Eastern Michigan in the regular season finale,” she wrote.
The one that I think Penn State is going to play in, and so does The Sporting News, which Ciano also spoke about, is the Pinstripe Bowl. I know I’ve made a few jokes about the Pinstripe Bowl, but I could see an opportunity for Penn State to play someone like Pitt or Duke in that game, just as The Sporting News does.
“The Sporting News also put Penn State in the Pinstripe Bowl. However, instead of playing the Panthers, Bill Bender believes the blue and white will face Duke instead. The Blue Devils are currently 6-5 and play Wake Forest in their final regular season battle. Bender has Pittsburgh playing on Dec. 30 in the Transperfect Music City Bowl against Illinois.”
We’ll see what happens over the next few days, but at least Penn State is bowl-eligible and will have something to play for in the back half of its season.