The Penn State Nittany Lions were the most obvious candidate to benefit from the expanded playoff — they would have qualified for a 12-team field in five of the previous eight seasons — but James Franklin couldn’t have envisioned receiving such a straightforward path to the program’s first national title game in 38 years.

Penn State football flexed its muscles on both side of the ball to beat down SMU in the Nittany Lions' College Football Playoff opener.

There has been much carping about what the CFP committee did and didn't do with the national tournament. In any case, the semis will be delicious.