Penn State Playoff Projections After College Football's Week 2

The Nittany Lions' playoff modeling gets tweaked after their 34-27 victory over Bowling Green.

Penn State football fans cheer during the third quarter against the Bowling Green Falcons at Beaver Stadium. / Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

The good news is, Penn State didn't functionally alter its chances to make the College Football Playoff following a 34-27 win over Bowling Green last Saturday. Certainly not like Notre Dame did by losing at home to its MAC opponent, Northern Illinois. All the Nittany Lions did was shuffle the deck regarding College Football playoff projections among the analysts.

According to ESPN's playoff predictor, Penn State (2-0) has a 54 percent chance of making the 12-team field following Week 2. The Nittany Lions get a bye this week to assess their injury situation, study their first-half defensive lapses against the Falcons and prepare for one more non-conference game before opening the Big 10 schedule Sept. 28 against Illinois.

For now, Penn State appears to be in playoff contention, if not entirely yet in playoff form. Here's where the experts predict for Penn State's postseason. For context, here's what the post-Week 1 projections looked like.

At the Action Network, Brett McMurphy moved Penn State down two spots to the No. 9 seed, thus sending it on the road instead of hosting a game at Beaver Stadium. As a result, McMurphy predicts the Nittany Lions will visit Oregon in a Big Ten 8-9 game.

ESPN released a list of projections from 13 writers, 11 of whom have Penn State in the playoff field. The seeds are pretty consistent, largely from 8-10, with one expert listing Penn State at No. 11. The Nittany Lions fell two spots to No. 9 in the latest ESPN Football Power Index.

In his comprehensive look at bowl season, Brad Crawford of 247Sports picks a Peach Bowl rematch between Penn State and Ole Miss, with the Nittany Lions seeded 11th.

The Athletic's playoff model mocks another Penn State-Ole Miss game in Oxford, though as an 8-9 game, with the winner getting No. 1 Georgia. Meanwhile, The Athletic's Stewart Mandel has a different bracket, with No. 7 Penn State hosting Kansas State of the Big 12.

Jerry Palm of CBS Sports also positions Penn State with a home game as the No. 7 seed vs. Kansas State.

On3's Andy Staples adds another voice to the Penn State-at-Ole Miss chorus, projecting the Nittany Lions as a No. 10 seed. He also heard the alarm bells regarding Penn State's first-half defense against Bowling Green. "The Nittany Lions won their clunker," Staples writes.

Penn State coach James Franklin gladly will correct a "clunker" as long as it's a winning clunker.

"Obviously we’ve got some work to do, but it's nice doing that work with a win," Franklin said after the game against Bowling Green. "There's a ton of teams across the country that will be trying to make corrections after a loss, and we've got to make a bunch of corrections after a win."

Penn State returns to Beaver Stadium on Sept. 14 to host Kent State, which fell to 0-2 after a home loss to FCS Saint Francis. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET on Big Ten Network.

More Penn State Football

The most intersting stats of Penn State's win over Bowling Green

What the Nittany Lions learned about themselves against Bowling Green

The Penn State report card: Bowling Green edition

Penn State on SI is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on X (or Twitter) @MarkWogenrich.