College football ranking has been on a topsy-turvey motion for the last few weeks. The playoff sphere is still waiting to take a few teams in and to throw a few out before the final cut. While week 13 has shaken up a slew of programs like Alabama, Colorado, and Ole Miss, we have seen a significant rise in Kansas State and Arizona State’s momentum. However, another underdog that you must not sleep on is Penn State. The Nittany Lions have come along to clinch the fourth spot in the latest CFP ranking. All they have to do next is to topple the Maryland Terrapins in the regular season finale to rack up a post-season spot. They taught a lesson to Minnesota last week, and right now, David Pollack sees a point for all the other teams to shake in their boots.

Penn State took a trip to Minneapolis in a chaotic week 14 and walked out with a victory Saturday over Minnesota. But wait, it was a ‘hold your breath until the last minute’ kind of win. There’s no easier way to put that up. The offense looked below the radar in the early half of the game. However, after a vigorous back and forth, James Franklin led his team to pull a masterstroke. An accurate pass from Drew Allar to Tyler Wareen turned the fate around, and the scoreboard shouted out to the Lyons. They have gone for three-fourth attempts in the final drive. Before the last one clicked, the previous shots were enough to wreck the nerves of the Golden Gophers. You might have blamed it on Minnesota’s under-preparation, but David Pollack has a solid argument.

”There are a lot of teams that are falling apart. I hope people don’t look at the game and discount Penn State; I don’t like it, I look at things again differently through a bigger lens. Minnesota has two weeks to prepare for Penn State. They come into the football game jacked up and hyped up, but they start slow,” Pollack explained on his podcast.

Giving the Penn State HQ his flower, the veteran analyst added, ”James Franklin did the best job coaching that I have ever seen him do, I mean fourth down aggressiveness even late in the game after they got across mid-field, still; I am not taking a field goal, forget that crap. I am going to win it; I am going to get it to my best player like James Franklin did an unbelievable job leading his guys to survive against a pretty solid Minnesota team.”

Surely, nobody has imagined Penn State to come this far into the playoff stretch. But they did. The team in the week 14 is different bread. This Penn State is mature, this Penn State is here to win, this Penn State is to make you think twice before you overlook.

They are in line to host a playoff game at Beaver Stadium on Dec. 20 or 21. But before that, they need to get an upper hand over Maryland, a team that has one big ten win under their belt. The history favors the Lyons as they have only lost to the Terrapins twice in James Franklin’s 11-year tenure.

However, Coach Franklin isn’t really a fan of his current team. The single-point win propelled him to take a quick-fix approach before the post-season run kicked in.

James Franklin critical of the team’s shortcomings ahead of a tougher run

Franklin doesn’t like the way the Nittany Lions opened the game. The offensive and defensive line was not worth the momentum of a highly touted matchup. Penn State’s offense started with a series of punts, including a 3-and-out on its first possession, followed by a fourth-down sack and turnover on downs on its third possession. Franklin didn’t know how to see it as not disappointing. Because it clearly is. Although they jumped on the pace right after and left the team to a fulfilling 10-0, the opening move didn’t set the tone right.

Franklin sees an issue in the second quarter’s blocked punt. He pointed out a lot more minute loopholes in a narrow win, including calling an important field goal a fluke deal. But then the coach highly appreciated the sweaty effort from the entire team as well. The iconic fake punt coming from QB Dom Rulli served as a testament to how thoroughly they have practiced grabbing the right call at the right moments all along the season.

Franklin acknowledged how Tyler Warren sacrificed his opportunity to be the all-time leading scorer in Penn State, giving up on a catch to keep the team above.

Overall, he thinks there is room for growth before they head to a historic playoff thick.