Penn State Football: 5 bold predictions for the 2017 season
By Zach Bigalke
3. The Nittany Lions will not win the division title
Last year, Penn State won the Big Ten East after finishing in a tie with Ohio State atop the standings. They nearly missed out on reaching the championship game in Indianapolis, though, as their division crown was mostly out of their control heading into the final week of the season.
That is because Penn State dropped a conference game at Michigan last season. Had the Wolverines knocked off rival Ohio State on Thanksgiving weekend, Jim Harbaugh‘s crew would have been playing in the Big Ten title game rather than the Nittany Lions. But the Buckeyes knocked off Michigan 30-27 in overtime, and Penn State won the head-to-head tiebreaker over OSU.
The division could be just as tight this season. Penn State plays Michigan and Ohio State in back-to-back weeks in late October. They also take on Iowa and Michigan State on the road over the course of their regular season. James Franklin’s team will be in position to win every one of those games. But they could also just as easily drop three or four contests in that quartet.
Even if the Nittany Lions lose just once, they will probably lose the wrong contest. After getting lucky last season with the results on the final week, the tables will turn this year as Penn State finishes tied once again atop the division but loses the tiebreaker.