Penn State Week 1 bowl projections: Starting 2023 with New Years Six expectations
Penn State is approaching the start of the new college football season, and it should be a good one for the Nittany Lions. Penn State is a consensus no. 7 preseason team in the polls to start the season and a number of analysts would agree that Penn State should be firmly in the College Football Playoff hunt deep into the season.
With those lofty expectations being placed on them for the 2023 season, it is no surprise that the bowl projections this far out seem to agree that Penn State will be playing in a New Years Six bowl game at the very least at the end of the season. And with a number of bowl projections forecasting both Ohio State and Michigan into the College Football Playoff for a second straight season, that would seem to help Penn State’s bowl outlook as well once again.
We’ll take a look at the bowl projections from various outlets each week this season to see how the bowl projections are impacted by each week’s results. But let’s see where Penn State is starting the year as we go into Week 1. Note that some of these bowl projections have already accounted for Week 0 results, as few as they may have been, and a few are simply the preseason projections without taking into account the Week 0 results.
247Sports (Brad Crawford): Orange Bowl vs. Florida State
Our first bowl projection for Penn State places the Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl. And according to the 247Sports projections, Penn State would face Florida State, who would be holding the ACC’s automatic spot in the Orange Bowl in Miami. Penn State would then be the highest-ranked team available from the Big Ten or SEC (or Notre Dame) for the other spot in the game.
Penn State last played Florida State in this very game in a memorable ORange Bowl at the end of the 2005 season.
The Action Network (Brett McMurphy): Orange Bowl vs. Clemson
Brett McMurphy also has Penn State heading to Miami this season but with a different opponent lining up against them. McMurphy has Penn State facing Clemson as the ACC representative in his bowl projections. But McMurphy has Clemson as the next-best team available from the ACC after having Florida State in his playoff mix.
Athlon Sports (Steven Lassan): Peach Bowl vs. LSU
Athlon Sports’ Steve Lassan has Penn State heading to a different New Years Six bowl game at the end of the year. Lassan is sending Penn State to Atlanta to play in the Peach Bowl against LSU in his bowl projections on Athlon Sports, with both teams coming into the matchup as at-large options. LSU is one of the teams ranked ahead of Penn State in the preseason polls. A bowl matchup against LSU would be a good battle, no doubt.
CBSSports.com (Jerry Palm): Cotton Bowl vs. Kansas State
Another bowl projection for Penn State sends the Nittany Lions back to the Cotton Bowl. CBS Sports writer Jerry Palm has the Nittany Lions in the Cotton Bowl against Kansas State, with both teams getting there as at-large options. The Orange Bowl would be out as an option because Palm has LSU heading there as the highest-ranked team available from the Big Ten or SEC. Things went well in Penn State’s last trip to the Cotton Bowl, with an explosive victory against Memphis in 2019.
ESPN (Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach): Fiesta Bowl vs. Utah (Bonagura) or Orange Bowl vs. Florida State (Schlabach)
ESPN offers a split take on Penn State’s bowl destination between two of its college football analysts. Kyle Bonagura sees a Rose Bowl rematch with Utah taking place in the Fiesta Bowl this season. Mark Schlabach is among those projecting Penn State to Miami to face Florida State in the Orange Bowl.
Penn State capped last season with a Rose Bowl victory over Utah. A rematch would be fun to see again, if the Utes could stay healthy.
