So, you’re saying there’s a chance.

Penn State still isn’t out of the College Football Playoff picture even with its disturbing 20-13 loss last week to Ohio State. The Nittany Lions are now 7-1, and they came in as the No. 6 ranked team in the first batch of CFP rankings that dropped earlier this week. Just a reminder that 12 teams will now qualify for the CFP bracket this season.

You might think disturbing is an odd word choice to describe Penn State’s loss to the Buckeyes, but to me it fits perfectly.

It’s disturbing in the sense that nothing has changed whatsoever with how PSU lost to OSU last Saturday from the previous losses. The offense struggled to move the ball again, which wasn’t supposed to happen this time around with a more explosive offense under new offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki. But it did.

The offense looked vanilla and conservative, and it was dreadful in the red zone. I don’t need to revisit the red zone issues. Everyone and their mother, brother, cousins and grandmother knows that Tyler Warren should have been given the ball at least once in those situations.

It’s something that Penn Stare faithful will just need to continue to do — chalk up a loss to OSU when they’re on the schedule — until PSU can prove that it can beat the Buckeyes. This year was the most even the rosters have been in quite some time. The defense held Ohio State to 20 points and scored a touchdown, and the Buckeyes were playing with a makeshift offensive line.

So, the answer to that is no touchdowns scored by the offense and only 120 rushing yards. It’s just disheartening for the Nittany Lions faithful all around. Moving forward, the Penn State offense must get better if it wants to finish the season 11-1 and qualify for the CFP.

I’d also like to quickly address the “fire James Franklin crowd.” To which my reply is … who are you replacing him with that’s better? To which no one ever gives me a coach that is on Coach Franklin’s level. Starting over is not always fun in college football. Maybe this is just the lane that Penn State is going to live in for the foreseeable future in the college football landscape. And if so, the CFP being expanded to 12 teams will always give the Nittany Lions a shot to get in and see what happens from there.

Unless you’re bringing in Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, Dan Lanning, Kirby Smart, Lane Kiffin or Mario Cristobal — which none of those guys are going anywhere — then Coach Franklin isn’t going anywhere.

Penn State will look to bounce back tonight against a Washington team that has had its ups and downs this season in the Nittany Lions annual White Out game (8 p.m. ET, Peacock). Jumping right into this match-up, Penn State has to do a better job at running the football. With two running backs the caliber of Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, the PSU run game has been inconsistent and non-explosive.

The Nittany Lions did not run the ball well against UCLA, USC or last week against Ohio State. And the run game really only opened up against Wisconsin when dual-threat signal caller Beau Pribula entered the game for an injured Drew Allar.

Penn State has been much better this season in the run game than it was last season, as it’s averaging 188 yards rushing per game — which is 33rd best in the country. However, to get where the Nittany Lions want to go they have to be more consistent and explosive in the run game. They will have an opportunity to do that this week against a Huskies’ defense that is giving up 151 rushing yards per game, which ranks 70th in the country.

PSU has to be committed to pounding the rock in this game, and most importantly it needs to win the battle up front and create holes for Singleton and Allen.

The Penn State pass rush was solid last week coming through with three sacks and generating pressure on Buckeyes’ quarterback Will Howard. Generating pressure will once again be vital tonight as the Huskies are a pass first offense with quarterback Will Rogers, who has over 2,200 yards passing and 13 touchdowns to just four interceptions.

Receivers Denzel Boston and Giles Jackson each have over 50 catches on the season, so the Nittany Lions’ defensive backs will certainly be tested. The Huskies also have a strong runner at tailback in Jonah Coleman, who has just under 900 yards rushing and seven rushing scores.

The Penn State defense usually plays very well in the White Out environment, feeding off the energy from the crowd, but make no mistake about it, Washington has some legitimate playmakers on offense. The Huskies rank 67th in the country in sacks allowed per game, so again the PSU pass rush will be key and it looks like it should have some opportunities to cause chaos.

Las Vegas has Penn State as a 13.5-point favorite.

The Washington defense has been pretty good this season as well, ranking 10th in the country giving up 292.8 yards per game. However, against good running teams the Huskies have given up some big points in recent weeks — 40 points to Iowa and 31 to Indiana — with both of those games being losses.

There is a reason why Washington has four losses on the season, and it’s hard to imagine it being able to come into State College in the White Out game and upset the Nittany Lions — especially with what is on the line for PSU.

My pick is: Penn State 30, Washington 17.