Penn State Football: 3 takeaways from Week 7 bye

2. Penn State is No. 2 in the AP Poll thanks to Clemson’s loss

To paraphrase the modern-day philosopher DJ Khalid: all Penn State does is win, win, win, no matter what, even when it’s on its bye week.

Seriously, without playing a single down of football in Week 7, Penn State saw its path to the College Football Playoff become even clearer, and gained valuable insight into the weaknesses of their upcoming competition.

While Saquon Barkley and Co. sat comfortably at home, enjoying some much-deserved rest and relaxation, an unprecedented four AP top 10 teams, including No. 2 Clemson, No. 5 Washington, No. 8 Washington State and No. 10 Auburn all lost to unranked teams.

Three of those teams — Clemson, Washington and Washington State — were previously undefeated.

Related Story: Penn State Football: 5 players who earned game balls vs. Northwestern

The Clemson Tigers’ loss was especially relevant for Penn State, as it helped to bump the Nittany Lions up a spot to No. 2 in the AP Top 25, the highest they’ve been ranked in the James Franklin-era in Happy Valley.

As the dust settles across the college football world, we are left with only eight undefeated teams remaining in the AP Top 25 — two from the Big Ten, two from the SEC, one from the ACC, one from the Big 12 and two from the non-Power Five American Athletic Conference.

With every team from the Pac-12 now having at least one loss, if Penn State can finish the season undefeated, an outcome that is growing more and more likely with each passing week, there will be no debate in anyone’s mind as to whether or not the Nittany Lions deserve a spot in the College Football Playoff, only who their first opponent will be.