Does PSU need to finish 11-1 to make the postseason?

Close defeat would still keep PSU in the conversation

Here we are with Penn State sitting at No. 4 again after Tuesday's College Football Playoff rankings.

Remember in August when the conversation was the Nittany Lions would have made the CFP in six of the 10 years of its existence?

In all of those years, PSU had two losses.

This may be a different era of college football with expanded conferences and teams traveling multiple time zones to play conference games, but nothing should change as far as criteria to make the College Football Playoff.

If the Lions want a home game in the first round of the CFP, they absolutely have to go 2-0. But to answer the question of just making it in the dance, I believe Penn State can afford a close loss to Minnesota.

The Lions cannot lose a home game to close the regular season against a disappointing Maryland team, which needs to win its last two games just to even be bowl eligible.

There's an argument to be made that a loss to the Gophers would also eliminate the Lions, and it would probably put them on the outside of the top 12. But there would still be one more game against the Terrapins to make the CFP committee reconsider.

Who knows what other chaos may be coming in the next couple weeks?

After the Ohio State loss, the best thing Penn State could have done is blow out their opponents, which they have done so far against Washington and Purdue. Those two teams aren't perfect opponents by any means, but the committee should give the Lions the benefit of the doubt.

It's true that Penn State's resume isn't eye-popping. A win over Ohio State would have quieted a lot of naysayers. Wins at West Virginia and Wisconsin, and a home victory over Illinois are the reasons the Nits are ranked as high as they are.

But what about the rest of the country? Oregon being undefeated and boasting a win over the Buckeyes certainly has earned the Ducks a No. 1 ranking. Ohio State's best win is a road win at Penn State, and that's still a signature victory for Ryan Day.

But Texas' best win? A 3-point victory at Vanderbilt, which isn't exactly a college football powerhouse, even though James Franklin did well there before coming to State College.

We'll find out a lot about Indiana this weekend when it travels to Ohio State, but the undefeated Hoosiers have the 106th toughest schedule out of 134 FBS teams in the country right now.

Notre Dame has a home loss against the MAC's Northern Illinois, which should be unthinkable for a program like the Fighting Irish.

Alabama, Georgia, and Ole Miss out of the SEC all have two losses. The Tide lost to Vanderbilt, and the Rebels lost to Kentucky.

Minnesota is 6-4 so far this season, and some of the wins are relatively good. The Gophers had a string of four wins against USC, UCLA, Maryland and Illinois in October but erased all of that goodwill with a terrible loss at Rutgers.

If PSU loses by less than a touchdown in Minneapolis this weekend, it doesn't make its resume any worse than the other at-large teams on the CFP fringe.

Andy Stine can be reached at astine@altoonamirror.com.