Penn State Football: 5 bold predictions for the 2017 season

5. Penn State will suffer a New Year’s Six snub this season

Last season, Penn State was the first team left out of the College Football Playoff. This year, despite reaching double digits once again in the regular season, they will suffer an even greater indignity in 2017. Ultimately, the Nittany Lions will be snubbed not just from the top four positions but from a major bowl game altogether.

Four of the 12 spots in New Year’s Six bowl games are allocated to the College Football Playoff semifinals. At least two other spots will go to conference champions from whichever league is left out of the playoff and the top Group of Five champion. That leaves six slots open for a slew of teams that will be worthy.

Penn State, after what will likely be a 10-2 season, will be among those worthy teams. But the Big Ten has no guaranteed berth in a major bowl game this year, with the Rose Bowl slotted as one of this year’s semifinal games. Last year the conference put three teams into New Year’s Six bowls, but it could be a very different story this year.

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The selection committee is going to put in a couple ACC teams. Three SEC teams could get a berth this year. The Pac-12 and Big 12 could each put two into major bowls. There is also the issue of independent teams; either Notre Dame or BYU could be in line to break through this season. That will leave too few spots to accommodate James Franklin’s team in 2017.