Penn State viewing College Football Playoff as brand-new season

As a team, Penn State kept a relatively low profile Sunday while awaiting the College Football Playoff’s 12-team field to be revealed.

The Nittany Lions, fresh off a shootout loss to Oregon in the Big Ten title game, returned to State College, where they eventually got word of their No. 6 seeding and a first-round matchup Dec. 21 at Beaver Stadium against No. 11 seed SMU.

While the overall mood certainly wasn’t somber, excessive celebration wasn’t warranted.

“We didn’t really do anything formal,” coach James Franklin told reporters on a Sunday Zoom call. “We got (home), we had a team lunch and then after, we just had a team meeting and told (players) what the next couple days would look like. … It’s not like we had a watch party or anything like that.

“(Saturday) was a long night, a physical night, so we want guys to get rested and recovered. We were pretty confident we were going to be in the playoff, it was just where we were going to be.”

Franklin made note of the CFP reveal coming directly after the Nittany Lions suffered a close loss to the Ducks in Indianapolis.

Naturally, so soon after such a defeat, the team needed time to officially turn the page. But Franklin already is noticing his upperclassmen setting the tone for the road ahead.

Similar to the postgame message Franklin had after the loss to Ohio State on Nov. 2, he is making sure players understand that all the goals they set out to achieve at the beginning of the year remain in front of them.

“I think as a locker room, because the season isn’t over, it was handled pretty well,” Franklin said. “Obviously, there (were) still some hurt feelings and raw emotions, but, overall, I think guys get it and understand that we’ve got a ton of football left in front of us, as long as we handle it the right way. I think our leadership will step up big time.”

Penn State’s league championship loss didn’t hurt it in the eyes of the CFP Selection Committee.

In fact, the Nittany Lions’ path could be seen as among the most favorable of the field, namely because they avoid any potential matchups with Ohio State or Oregon — the only two teams to defeat Penn State this year — until the national championship game.

Behold, the first-ever 12-team CFP bracket ???? pic.twitter.com/94v30wyxeq

— Front Office Sports (@FOS) December 8, 2024

Eighth-ranked Ohio State, were it to beat No. 9 Tennessee in the first round, would face the top-ranked Ducks in the quarterfinals New Year’s Day.

Penn State’s second-round opponent would be No. 3 Boise State.

Franklin also said the team didn’t suffer any notable injuries against Oregon.

“We came out of it pretty healthy,” Franklin said. “Didn’t have a whole lot of issues. … We came out of it pretty good, so I think we’re in a pretty good place. I don’t really see us getting anybody back that’s been out, but in terms of who we played with this past week, we were able to come out of that game fairly healthy.”

With a gap of nearly two weeks until SMU travels to State College, Franklin is focusing on further improving the overall health of his team as much as possible while preparing for the Mustangs.

“This week will be a combination of, obviously, rest and recovery, getting a feel for who SMU is, studying on them and then some self-study on ourselves, as well, and then we’ll do some practice,” Franklin said.

“Some of that will be more general Penn State vs. Penn State, almost like early bowl practices, almost like spring ball, where we’re just trying to get better at some areas that we think we have some room for improvement. And then, obviously, we’ll get into SMU. But this week will be most importantly about rest and recovery and getting a head start on (SMU).”