As 2024 rapidly approaches, what Penn State fans are looking forward to the most isn’t the Peach Bowl or even what Andy Kotelnicki might be able to do with the offense next season.
It’s that the college football playoff will be expanding next season, and for a program that has found itself in the top 12 in five of the last eight years but never in the four-team playoff, that is a change that can’t come quickly enough. The larger field will provide opportunities for a new kind of relevancy for several teams, and if recent form holds and the transfer portal is abundant, the Nittany Lions stand a very good chance of being one of them.
But if Penn State isn’t able to address the reasons it hasn’t yet cracked that top four under James Franklin, it’s hard to imagine any potential playoff game wouldn’t deliver the same nauseating feeling that has been brought on by its failures in marquee matchups.
