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<p>Here was another marker on Penn State&#8217;s long road back.</p><p>The Nittany Lions earned the program&#8217;s first appearance in the College Football Playoff poll on Tuesday. And they showed up higher than most anyone would have predicted.</p><p>Penn State is ranked a surprising No. 12 in the first CFP ranking of the season &#8212; eight spots higher than the Lions&#8217; place in the AP poll and 10 higher than the coaches poll.</p><p>The reason?</p><p>&#8220;Penn State has played a strong schedule,&#8221; CFP committee chairman Kirby Hocutt said after the top 25 was revealed on ESPN. &#8220;Obviously a big win over Ohio State. But four of their six wins are against teams with a winning record.</p><p>&#8220;In the eyes of the committee and in discussions the last few days, we&#8217;ve taken a lot of looks at their schedule played and also their quality of wins.&#8221;</p><p>At this early stage in the proceedings, the committee put emphasis on the fact that Penn State&#8217;s first eight opponents are a combined 41-23. Less important to them is that teams like Minnesota (6-2), Temple (6-3) and Maryland (5-3) don&#8217;t have the strongest reputations.</p><p>It&#8217;s also clear that the committee has a high opinion of the Big Ten right now. At No. 12, the Lions are actually looking up at four conference foes in the poll &#8212; No. 3 Michigan, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 8 Wisconsin and No. 10 Nebraska.</p><p>As it is, Penn State&#8217;s path to a Big Ten East title is narrow indeed &#8212; the Lions must win out, starting with Saturday&#8217;s game against Iowa, and Michigan must lose twice. But a high ranking could open the door for Penn State to earn an at-large bid to a prestigious New Year&#8217;s Six bowl game.</p><p>Not that James Franklin is letting the team think about that.</p><p>&#8220;I think externally (a CFP ranking) helps. Internally, I don&#8217;t think it does,&#8221; the Penn State coach said Tuesday afternoon before the poll was released. &#8220;Our focus is on Iowa.&#8221;</p><p>Hellbent on driving that point home, he repeated &#8220;Iowa&#8221; six more times in succession right after that.</p><p>Franklin did allow that it could be a boon for recruiting &#8212; &#8220;Perception is important because perception is that person&#8217;s reality,&#8221; he said &#8212; but a loss to the defending Big Ten West champs would temper much of the buzz around the team.</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s all we talk about,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;We don&#8217;t talk about those other things. We talk about making sure we have a great environment on Saturday so we have a home-field advantage, making sure our guys are prepared.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Barkley&#8217;s boost</strong></p><p>Saquon Barkley added plenty of awards to his haul this week following his career day out at Purdue, where he ran for 207 yards and added 70 more on three receptions.</p><p>Most notably, he was named one of 18 semifinalists for the Maxwell Award, a national player of the year honor.</p><p>On top of that, he was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week, becoming the first Penn State player to win twice in the same season since Daryll Clark in 2009.</p><p>Lions coaches picked Barkley as their top player on offense from the game with cornerback John Reid and linebacker Cam Brown recognized for defense and special teams, respectively.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s an eraser,&#8221; tackle Brendan Mahon said of Barkley. &#8220;He can erase mistakes that happened up front, turn it into a game. That for the whole offensive line is a huge confidence booster on Saturdays when we&#8217;re lining up against teams like Iowa, Ohio State and such.</p><p>&#8220;Saquon gives a lot to this football team and this family we have here. We kind of bounce off of each other. His success and our success go hand-in-hand.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Cothran&#8217;s rebound</strong></p><p>If there was any lingering confusion over the issue, Franklin confirmed Tuesday that new defensive tackle starter Curtis Cothran did not play the first four weeks because of a team suspension.</p><p>Cothran had told reporters last week that he wasn&#8217;t on the field in September because he was still adjusting to the move from end to tackle.</p><p>&#8220;He was always a part of the team,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;Had not left the team but was suspended from competition. But he is an older, veteran guy who we love and respect. He&#8217;s grown so much in our program, in the three years we&#8217;ve been here.</p><p>&#8220;Really, really proud of him and his development in really all phases of his life. We were really excited about getting him back.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Penn State coach James Franklin is trying to make sure a lofty ranking doesn&#8217;t distract the Nittany Lions. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_AP16303722962054.jpg</photo0><caption0>Penn State coach James Franklin is trying to make sure a lofty ranking doesn&#8217;t distract the Nittany Lions. </caption0><photoCredit0>Michael Conroy | AP photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Derek Levarse</p><p>dlevarse@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>UP NEXT</strong></p><p>Iowa at Penn State</p><p>7:30 p.m., Saturday, BTN</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Surprise, surprise: Penn State debuts at No. 12 in College Football Playoff poll