Championship Weekend Preview: Playoff what ifs?

Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst talks with Penn State head coach James Franklin during a news conference for the Big Ten Conference championship NCAA college football game Friday, Dec. 2, 2016, in Indianapolis.

The Nittany Lions appear in their first conference championship game on the strength of a big-play offense.

Penn State (10-2) is the surprise newcomer to championship weekend. That ranks 10th in the country.

That’s something Penn State knows about as well.

Let’s play devil’s advocate here for a moment. “But this week I feel like everyone’s going to be locked in to make sure we win the Big Ten Championship”.

How about the Badgers? If they can do that, they should just hand them the Playoff trophy for every year until Gundy retires.

Plus some of the Badgers still are stewing from the 59-0 beating they took from Ohio State in this stadium two years ago. The players from both sides know that they can’t control what the CFP committee does, they just need to worry about winning the game first and foremost. And we know we have to play extremely well in order to get it close there at the end.

Not only is Penn State making second half adjustments that yield more big plays, McSorley has proved himself as a game-manager. I think we’re getting good value with the road team because Bulldogs are coming off a loss at Southern Miss when they had already clinched a berth in this game. Temple ranks fourth in the Football Bowl Subdivision in time of possession at 34 minutes per game.

Coach, do you think the College Football Playoff talk has overshadowed the importance of conference championships? “Before I got here, I always heard that whenever Penn State is playing well, Happy Valley is that much happier”.

So which Big Ten team gets in?

Hi everybody. We are 24 hours away from a Big Battle for the Big 10 Championship. The Tide’s defense is tremendous, allowing only 69 rushing yards per game. Ohio State and MI are national contenders, but Wisconsin and Penn State get to play for the conference crown.

Hornibrook’s potential absence could have a much smaller effect because the Badgers have rotated between two quarterbacks each of the past six games. Wisconsin has some big guys in the secondary. Wisconsin went on to win that game 30-6, and Hornibrook has taken the majority of snaps ever since. If he can’t go, Bart Houston will get the start.

Penn State looked stagnant at home October 1 against Minnesota.

Picking the victor in this game won’t be easy. Note: Some teams are playing their regular season finale this weekend. It is hard to throw on the Buffaloes, who have held opponents to 200 passing yards or less five times during that same stretch. That’s an incredible span.

Barkley, McSorley and the rest of the Nittany Lions will battle Wisconsin for the Big Ten championship at 8 p.m. Saturday in Indianapolis.

There’s a realistic chance that the victor of this game will not be selected to compete in the College Football Playoff, even though they themselves are two of the four Big Ten teams now in the top seven of the rankings.

Wild card: If Oklahoma, now eighth, is especially impressive against Oklahoma State in a de facto Big 12 title game Saturday in Norman and the Big Ten title game is a slog maybe — just maybe — the committee goes a different direction. Penn State came into the game 4-2, a three-touchdown underdog to the Buckeyes.

Now comes the proclamation from head coach James Franklin that he will not only play Saturday evening but “has looked great” preparing for the Badgers and the toughest defense Penn State has seen since September in MI.