Nebraska, Penn State Shine in Week 4 Big Ten Power Rankings
Saturday Blitz Big Ten Power Rankings Week 4
2. Penn State Nittany Lions, 4-0 (1-0), Defeated Massachusetts Minutemen 48-17 Last Saturday
It may have been against UMASS, but the Nittany Lions finally put together a complete performance under head coach James Franklin last Saturday. Their first three games were all ugly wins, and two of them could have been losses, but 4-0 is 4-0.
Perhaps part of the reason Penn State had such a blowout win Saturday is because it relied more on a balanced attack than the Christian Hackenberg-heavy offense it has been relying on over the past three weeks. With 236 passing yards and 228 rushing yards and a focus on taking care of the football, the Nittany Lions looked dominant.
This team is now undefeated with no sanctions and could be thinking much bigger than just an 8 or 9-win season and a bowl game now. Big Ten championships, and, dare I say, a spot in the college football playoff may be on the minds of Nittany Lions fans now. How’s that for a major jump in expectations over just a two week period? The only reservation for this team is that it needed so many turnovers to pull out a 3-point win against Rutgers, but we can at least say Penn State is finding ways to win games. That’s why they belong in this spot for now.