Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1514597
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 4 2 1 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M seventh-seeded Ohio State in a first- round game in Columbus. New Opponents The Nittany Lions' penchant for win- ning the games they're supposed to win — they've put together five seasons of 10 or more victories since 2016 — bodes well for their future. A 10-win season is likely to be a sure ticket to the playoff in the years to come. What doesn't bode quite so well is the Big Ten's impending geographic expan- sion. The league is adding USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington. The Trojans and Ducks are perennial top-25 pro- grams, while the Huskies have surged the past two seasons, winning the Pac- 12 title and reaching the CFP champi- onship game in 2023, albeit under the leadership of recently departed coach Kalen DeBoer. With the arrival of those marquee teams, there are likely to be fewer games on its upcoming schedules that Penn State is supposed to win. Washington will visit Beaver Stadium for the first time next year, and UCLA will also be coming to State College, while the Lions will travel to Los Ange- les to face a USC squad that thumped ACC runner-up Louisville, 42-28, in the Holiday Bowl even with star quarterback Caleb Williams sitting out. Penn State coach James Franklin ad- dressed the league's shifting power dy- namic prior to the start of the 2023 sea- son, noting that it will inevitably have an impact on his team's playoff hopes. "I think a lot of people look at it and say that 12 is going to be easier, and maybe it is," Franklin said. "But you're also going to have a harder Big Ten at that time with the addition of [four new teams]. So, in some ways, it may be a wash." As if to underscore that point, Penn State posted a 10-3 record in which it dropped all three of its games against teams that finished in the Associated Press Top 25. Had the Nittany Lions lost a third regular-season game, they would probably not have finished in the top 12 of the CFP rankings. The highest- ranked three-loss team this year was LSU at No. 13. In their 10 seasons under Franklin, the Nittany Lions have gone 13-25 against top-25 opponents and 3-16 against top-10 teams. Those numbers would be problematic under any circumstances for a program with Penn State's lofty aspirations, but they become especially worrisome given that the number of ranked opponents on PSU's schedule is all but certain to rise in the years ahead. In 2024, for example, the Lions will forgo their previously annual match- ups against Rutgers, Indiana and Michi- gan State to make way for three of the league's four newcomers. Oregon is the only new member that PSU won't play next fall. Among national columnists, skepti- 2024 LOOK AHEAD 2024 PENN STATE SCHEDULE Date Opponent Aug. 31 at West Virginia Sept. 7 BOWLING GREEN Sept. 21 KENT STATE Sept. 28 ILLINOIS Oct. 5 UCLA Oct. 12 at USC Oct. 26 at Wisconsin Nov. 2 OHIO STATE Nov. 9 WASHINGTON Nov. 16 at Purdue Nov. 23 at Minnesota Nov. 30 MARYLAND James Franklin has compiled an 88-39 record in his 10 seasons at Penn State. He will be looking to guide the Nittany Lions to their first College Football Playoff appearance next season when the field expands to 12 teams. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL