Penn State coaches, players focus on next task amid playoff hubbub [opinion]

Penn State coaches and players have done their best to sidestep questions about rankings, most notably the ones decided by the College Football Playoff committee.

If they watched the latest update Tuesday night on ESPN or read about the rankings Wednesday, Anthony Donkoh and Drew Allar didn’t let on.

“I don’t really look at the rankings,” Donkoh said. “Coach (James) Franklin does a good job of having us focus on ourselves.”

The Nittany Lions are trying to finish the regular season strongly, by winning Saturday at Minnesota and then next week against Maryland at Beaver Stadium. If they do that and go 11-1, they’ll be in the 12-team playoff with a first-round home game.

If they don’t, then they put themselves at the mercy of the committee. Which is never ideal.

The rankings don’t mean as much yet, despite the histrionics Tuesday night in the ESPN studio. The cable network, after all, does have air time to fill. That they filled it with a lot of hot air again is beside the point.

Whether Penn State is one spot ahead of Indiana this week is meaningless. If the Hoosiers beat Ohio State Saturday, they’ll be ahead of the Nittany Lions. If they don’t, they’ll stay behind them.

Some of the comments made by the studio panel were misleading, at best. One guy said for the second straight week that Indiana should be ahead of Penn State because the Lions struggled to beat UCLA and the Hoosiers didn’t.

Facts: Penn State led 24-3 after three quarters on the way to a 27-11 win, which included the Bruins scoring a touchdown and 2-point conversion with 16 seconds to go. Indiana led 28-10 after three quarters in a 42-13 victory.

Another member of the studio panel suggested the committee put Illinois in the rankings at No. 25 to justify Penn State’s No. 4 ranking, ignoring the Illini’s 7-3 record.

Some media members and fans, especially those in the Southeastern Conference footprint, have called the Lions overrated.

Allar might have offered the best advice when it comes to rankings in general and the reaction to them.

“I don’t care what anybody else says about us,” Allar said. “We’re the only ones who know what we go through. We can’t control what anybody else says. We can’t waste energy on people who have their own opinions and that they’re entitled to have.

“At the end of the day, if we’re worrying about what other people say, that’s taking away from the task at hand.”

There are two weeks left in the regular season and another weekend of conference title games. Plenty can happen and already has.

For example, the CFP committee has released three sets of rankings. Penn State has been projected to play a different team in each one: Notre Dame, Mississippi and Georgia. Things can change.

Indiana’s game at Ohio State is one of three matchups of ranked teams that can have a major impact on the playoff field. The others are Notre Dame facing Army at Yankee Stadium Saturday night and Texas renewing its rivalry with Texas A&M Nov. 30.

Don’t forget the upsets that can’t be predicted.

That’s why Franklin (and many other coaches) are telling their players to control what they can control.

For Penn State, that’s doing everything it can to beat Minnesota this week and Maryland next week. The Lions have a narrow path to the Big Ten title game. They need to win out and for Ohio State to beat Indiana and lose to Michigan.

But first things first.

“Minnesota is a really good team,” Allar said. “They play extremely hard through the whistle. It’s going to be a challenge this weekend. They’re playing really good ball right now.

“As far as rankings go, it doesn’t really matter until it matters. It doesn’t really matter right now. We still have a lot of ball to play.”

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