Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1509432
W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M O ne of the knocks on college football from people who prefer the pro- fessional game is that it's a sport full of participation trophies. There are no Famous Idaho Potato Bowls in the NFL, no consolation prizes for teams that didn't reach the top. At the pro level, there's a Super Bowl champion and 31 runners-up. The complaint is not entirely untrue, but it does miss the harsh reality that championship hopefuls face at the col- legiate level. In its own way, college foot- ball is even more ruthless than the NFL when it comes to winnowing the field of title contenders down to the four that will actually get to play for the crown. In the NFL, you can lose a few games along the way and still end up hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy while con- fetti falls all around you. Kansas City lost three last year. The Los Angeles Rams lost five the year before that. The New York Giants won a Super Bowl title in 2011 after going 9-7 in the regular sea- son. Good luck trying to do that at the col- lege level. For teams chasing a national championship, it's all but impossible to recover from a couple of losses. Penn Goal To Go Goal To Go Penn State charges into the second half of its season with its ultimate objective — the College Football Playoff — still within reach, but the Big Ten's best teams lie ahead M AT T H E R B | M A T T. H E R B @ O N 3 . C O M Penn State won its fifth game of the season when it defeated Northwestern 41-13. The Nittany Lions have opened with five or more consecutive wins in five of James Franklin's 10 seasons. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL 2 0 N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 3