Minnesota beating Penn State dramatically shakes up College Football Playoff picture

Minnesota upset Penn State but how high will the Golden Gophers climb in the new College Football Playoff rankings? And how far will Penn State fall?

They did it! The No. 17 Minnesota Golden Gophers stay perfect by shocking the No. 4 Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday afternoon, 31-26. P.J. Fleck and his team rowed the damn boat to 9-0 (6-0) on the season. We have to expect a major shakeup when the College Football Playoff Selection Committee meets in Grapevine, Texas on Tuesday. What could even happen?

Well, Penn State will no longer be the last team in the field. The Nittany Lions won’t drop out of the top 10, as a road loss to an undefeated ranked team is about as good of a loss to have on one’s resume if your team suffers a defeat. But how far will the Golden Gophers climb? Certainly well past the No. 17 spot they previously occupied.

This is a statement win for Fleck and his program. It’s good enough to get the Golden Gophers inside or approaching the top-10. This would be a better win that most, if not almost all, teams ahead of them in last week’s rankings would have. However, they’re not going to be in the top-four, no matter how much you try to convince yourself that they belong there.

Frankly, Minnesota has so much momentum on its side that a New Year’s Six Bowl feels increasingly probable. The Golden Gophers are the favorites to represent the Big Ten West in Indianapolis. If they win in Indianapolis with just one conference loss, Minnesota will shock the world and make the College Football Playoff.

That being said, the Golden Gophers aren’t going to climb 13 spots this week up to No. 4. The reason for this is there are a handful of undefeated teams still ahead of them in the rankings.

They’re not surpassing the Ohio State Buckeyes at No. 1, they won’t jump the winner of the LSU Tigers vs. the Alabama Crimson Tide winner, nor will they get past the reigning national champion Clemson Tigers, who will presumably move up from No. 5 to No. 4 or No. 3 after beating the North Carolina State Wolfpack later this evening. Maybe the LSU vs. Alabama loser stays in the top-four?

Overall, this game has sent shockwaves through the college football landscape. The Big Ten is getting a team into the Playoff, maybe two if the Power 5 conference is lucky? Minnesota is totally in play to make the top-four at this point but will have to wait its turn and see other bigger dominoes to fall before they climb up even higher.

In short, Minnesota has played like a top-10 team at this juncture. That’s where the Golden Gophers should be after stunning Penn State to stay perfect. But if they have to wait another week to get into the top-10 because of Selection Committee bias, Fleck and his program will just have to row the boat some more and force its way into the conversation. Great win, Gophers!

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