There are worse places in the country to go than Nashville… like Detroit
Penn State is 3-1 after picking up a third consecutive victory over the weekend against San Diego State. The win came at a cost with injuries mounting up. Among the players injured in the game were running backs Akeel Lynch and Saquon Barkley. Lynch’s injury looked to be the more serious of the two, as he required help getting off the field. James Franklin is not one to discuss injuries with the media, although if the injury is serious enough we may here more about that later today. Barkley’s status may be a bit more secretive, but we will see.
With another weekend of college football in the books, the latest batch of bowl projections have been released by just about everybody doing weekly bowl projections. If you care about such things before the calendar flips over to October, ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and Brett McMurphy each have Penn State playing in the Music City Bowl, which would be pretty fun. Schlabach has Penn State playing Missouri, while McMurphy has Kentucky lined up as the opponent. Jerry Palm of CBSSports.com also has Penn State heading to Nashville for the Music City Bowl, with Missouri as the opponent. If you were curious, Penn State has faced Missouri four times between 1959 and 1980, including the 1970 Orange Bowl, a 10-3 victory. Penn State has faced Kentucky five times, from 1975 through 1999, with the most recent meeting coming in the 1999 Outback Bowl. Penn State is 2-0 in bowl games against the Tigers and Wildcats.
Starting this week over on No 2-Minute Warning I will be updating my own College Football Playoff projections, which will open the door to my own bowl projections as well. I expect to dive into bowl projections next week, after this weekend’s games are played.
Recruiting Buzz
It has been a while since I updated the Penn State recruiting board, so I’ll do that later this week. There have been a good number of additions and changes since I last took the time to dive into the recruiting outlook. Greg Pickel, who always does a solid job updating the recruiting news for PennLive, had a rundown of some recruiting notes from this weekend’s game. It was not a huge recruiting weekend for Penn State, although it should be worth mentioning four-star defensive end Yetur Matos (Fredericksburg, MD) was in town this weekend. The 247 Sports crystal ball is 100% locked in on Matos heading to Clemson in the Class of 2017, but Penn State is still seemingly in the picture.
Another potential Class of 2017 recruit came away with what was reportedly a good experience at Penn State this weekend. Lions 247 reports defensive tackle and defensive end Micah Clark, the top recruit in New Jersey, had a positive visit.
Around the Big Ten
The latest Big Ten power rankings from ESPN.com have Penn State ranked 10th… Talking 10 asks if Ohio State’s defense against Western Michigan is a cause for some concern… Michigan blanked BYU 31-0. Wolverines may be the most improved team in the country, not just the Big Ten.
Around the Nation
The Student Section recaps the week that was and suggests no conference is particularly stronger than the other… Mack Brown at Virginia? That’s just crazy enough to work!… So, what’s going on at Oregon? Ducks dropped out of the AP top 25 six years to the day they entered it… Alabama is an underdog this week at Georgia. It is the first time in 73 games The Crimson Tide have not been the favorite… Frank Beamer says games against East carolina are exhibition games… Butch Jones should have gone for two.
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