College Football Playoff bracket: Is Penn State still a lock in 12-team bracket?

This weekend, the Penn State Nittany Lions were gifted with a golden opportunity to stomp the visiting Ohio State Buckeyes in Beaver Stadium to remain undefeated in the Big Ten. Whelp. 'Twas not meant to be.

Penn State found itself on the wrong end of a 20-13 scoreboard, with the Buckeyes pulling out the challenging road victory and vaulting into the Big Ten driver's seat. That conference is absolutely loaded this season — both Indiana and No. 1 Oregon remain undefeated as of this writing — but Ohio State feels like the team to beat after such a compelling victory.

There has been a lot of doubt circulating Ryan Day and this Ohio State team, but now that doubt will transfer immediately over to James Franklin and the Nittany Lions. We are so back. It's not a Penn State football season without deep-seated questions about the viability of the roster and Franklin's scheme when the lights are brightest.

A couple of impressive victories pepper Penn State's schedule to date, but in reality, Ohio State was the Nittany Lions' first real test. The Buckeye already battled Oregon and lost by a single point in what could go down as this season's most electric game. That hardly qualifies as a bad loss, and now OSU has rebounded against another top-five opponent.

Penn State was No. 3 to Ohio State's No. 4 in the AP poll going into Saturday. Obviously, the Buckeyes will vault up, while Penn State is bound to drop a few spots. Let's take a look at updated projections for the 12-team College Football Playoff field.

Projected College Football Playoff bracket after Ohio State upsets Penn State

1. Oregon Ducks (Big Ten champion)
2. Georgia Bulldogs (SEC champion)
3. Clemson Tigers (ACC champion)
4. Iowa State Cyclones (Big 12 champion)
5. Ohio State Buckeyes
6. Texas Longhorns
7. Miami Hurricanes
8. Penn State Nittany Lions
9. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
10. Boise State Broncos (Mountain West champion)
11. Tennessee Volunteers
12. Alabama Crimson Tide

Ohio State has to slot behind Oregon in the Big Ten, but a potential rematch in the conference championship game holds myriad possibilities. Obviously, winning out and claiming the Big Ten crown (which would include, presumably, wins over both Indiana and Oregon) would move Ohio State into the top four. Potentially even the top one.

As for Penn State, the path remains clean the rest of the way. Not a single ranked opponent remains on the Nittany Lions' schedule. Losing your only major test is not ideal for the selection committee, but Penn State is ranked too highly to fall outside of the 12-team field. That is, of course, assuming that Penn State actually wins out and avoids another misstep. We can never count out catastrophe with a James Franklin-led team. The Nittany Lions are somewhat famous for two-loss seasons at this point and a second loss would seriously jeopardize Penn State's candidacy, if not outright eliminate them.

The rest of the field is as impossible to predict with so many high-stakes games on the docket in the coming weeks. With such lopsided conferences, one has to imagine the SEC gets the benefit of the doubt for at-large bids, even for two-loss teams. Texas A&M and Texas is coming down the pipeline, while Georgia-Tennessee in a few weeks will have profound implications on the SEC's standing in the 12-team field. It's tough to omit A&M, even with a projected second loss to Texas, but Alabama and Tennessee coast by on reputation.

The real truth, though, is that we have no clue how the selection committee will react to various hypothetical outcomes. Only time will tell.