College Football: Penn State and Oklahoma State have real title aspirations
The Penn State Nittany Lions and the Oklahoma State Cowboys are two program poised to shock the college football world and take home a national title in 2017.
If your team is not named Penn State or Oklahoma State they will not be National Champions this season. I know this sounds crazy to some of you who are stuck on Alabama, Ohio State, Florida State, Clemson and USC. It’s easy to fall in love with those teams, but this year is unique.
The Nittany Lions and Cowboys come in the season ranked 6th and 11th respectively in the preseason Amway Coaches Poll, but both are underrated and underestimated.
Penn State won the Big Ten last year, not Ohio State or Michigan! It’s like everyone forgets the Nittany Lions offense returns three of the best players at their position in college football: QB Trace McSorley, RB Saquon Barkley and TE Mike Gesicki. The offensive line returns four starters who blocked for those guys last year. There is NFL talent on defense as well. So why on earth has James Franklin‘s team become forgotten men behind Urban Meyer and the Khaki man, Jim Harbaugh? I’ll wait…
Penn State has a favorable early schedule with only one real tough game against Pittsburgh. They will start the season 6-0. Then the Nittany Lions head into a tricky October finish with back-to-back games against Michigan and Ohio State. After that, it’s smooth sailing into the College Football Playoff and a matchup against Oklahoma St.
Why you should believe in the Cowboys
Oklahoma St is even more underrated than Penn State. If Oklahoma, Ohio State, Michigan or Florida State had this much firepower, they would be the consensus No. 1 team in the country. QB Mason Rudolph is a pro passer and will be throwing to best receiving corps in the nation. James Washington, Jalen McCleskey, Marcell Ateman and Tyron Johnson are all studs. Add in running back Justice Hill and it may take a small army to slow Oklahoma St down offensively.
The Big XII is much maligned for their lack of quality defenses, but this Cowboys team should be class of the conference. The line will be the strength of the defense, and should generate a good pass rush with Jarrell Owens, Jordan Brailford and Darrion Daniels
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The combination of a light non-conference schedule and getting to play Baylor, TCU, and Oklahoma at home makes for a perfect recipe for 12-0 or 11-1 regular season. The Big XII finally has a conference championship game, so there’s no way the Cowboys get left out. The only thing that can derail the Cowboys is Mike Gundy’s bad luck mullet.
Remember, you heard it hear first!