Penn State Football: 3 takeaways from emotional loss at Minnesota

1. Playoff dreams alive for Minnesota AND Penn State

A game between two highly-ranked and undefeated conference contenders is hardly a cause for the loser to rend their garments and wonder what might have been. At this point, both teams still have a path to the Big Ten championship game — and, if both teams run the table, a chance to meet one another in Indianapolis for a rematch of this critical November contest.

Minnesota is obviously alive as a College Football Playoff contender. Now 9-0 for the first time since running the table in 1904, the Golden Gophers passed their biggest test remaining on the regular-season schedule. They currently have a two-win advantage on every other Big Ten West team, giving them some play in the remaining quarter of their regular-season schedule.

Trips to Iowa and Northwestern in the next two weeks won’t be easy by any means, but they will be favored in both contests. And the Golden Gophers get to face rival Wisconsin at home in the Battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe. They could easily be 12-0 heading to Indianapolis.

For Penn State, they cannot afford another slip-up. But if they take down Indiana, Ohio State, and Rutgers, they will finish atop the Big Ten East. The critical game is that November 23 trip to Columbus to face the Buckeyes. A head-to-head win would give the Nittany Lions the tiebreaker in the division race and send them to Indianapolis.

The way things are shaking out this year, with undefeated teams falling from the ranks each week, it is hard to imagine a 12-1 Big Ten champion getting left out of the College Football Playoff. Both the Golden Gophers and the Nittany Lions are still alive in that dogfight.