Penn State is #5 in the AP Rankings, UM down to 6th

Right...and then they didn't lose another game the rest of the year and won the conference championship game. 

Although I don't like them, and - no - I don't think they are necessarily a better team than we are, PSU did everything right. They didn't lose games when it mattered, recognizing that November games are more imprtant than September games.

Additionally, they only lost one conference game (to us), and beat both teams we lost to in November (the worst time to lose games...and we lost two!). 

I can't be pissed at PSU or the pollsters for ranking them ahead of us; PSU has earned it with their wins down the stretch. It just makes me more and more pissed off that we choked away two games in our control.  It sucks to admit this, but PSU took care of business when it mattered, and our team lost. 

I am stunned how the media is just blindly falling for the Penn State narrative "we had injuries, the Michigan game does not count".  

They keep repeating this spin verbatim, without even asking any questions.

Penn State scored 3 points against Michigan in non-garbage time.  With their offense at full strength.  I don't recall any injuries on that offense.

The fact is, Penn State's offense - McSorely chucking up air balls down the field - was dead on arrival against a team like Michigan with a fierce pass rush and lock down coverage.  They could replay that game 100 times and Penn State is still never going to be able to score.

As far as defense, yes they had linebacker issues.  OK spot them a touchdown.  

Or two touchdowns.  

Or three touchdowns.  

Or four touchdowns.  

Or, oh forget it.

You can't just wave your arms and talk away the annihilation of Penn State at the hands of Michigan.  

There is no way they should be ranked ahead of Michigan.

PSU scored a lot of points so they bump them up.  If PSU would've won 17-10, they would probably still be behind us.

think the committee will make the same mistake. 

AP poll is just a bunch of sports writers who don't really examine the data much.  They just react the the shiny object of the week. 

The committe takes a much deeper dive. 

Mind = blown.  At the end of the day, don't lose.

Its time to scrap the whole notion of conference championship games and conferences where teams don't play everyone. 

Kick out Rutgers and Maryland and play 11 games in conference every year. 

These on-the-scene ESPN reporters in Clemson and Tuscaloosa are insufferable.

I've gone from wishing Washington would lose to hoping they make the CFP.

"...when we destroyed PSU 49-10." Yet they destroyed an Iowa team that beat us, put up a lot more points on Wisconsin when they beat them, as we did (not to mention performing better against MSU and Indiana), and beat an OSU team that beat us. All said, having them one spot ahead of us is just as reasonable as one spot behind us. 

PSU rolled Iowa. M stunk it up against them. That's the most 'recent' transitive game to observe. I loathe Ped State and Franklin. However, it's hard to discount just one week after getting annihilated at PSU, Iowa turns around and stuffs Michigan.

I don't think PSU should be ranked higher than Michigan, but they certainly finished stronger and no matter what we think about the should of won thing at OSU, everyone sees it as an "L", while PSU defeated OSU.

Common opponents of recency bias? OSU & Iowa. PSU 2-0, Michigan 0-2.

THe winner would have jumped us and it is not entirely without justification. True we beat PSU but that was a long time ago and they have been playing much better since then.

I like this because it gives our seniors more motivation to win the bowl game.