STATE COLLEGE – Tell us again that hitting the people you’re supposed to do isn’t a big deal.

Better ask Georgia coach Kirby Smart. Or Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin. Or Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer. Or Colorado coach Deion Sanders.

Best ask Ryan Day, whose team’s loss gave Saturday’s Penn State-Maryland game a new dimension just minutes before kickoff.

Day and Ohio State’s 10-13 home loss to hated and season-defining rival Michigan and Penn State’s 44-7 win over the Terps meant the Nittany Lions are in Saturday’s Big Ten Championship game in Indianapolis were.

At 11-1, the Lions are certain to host a first-round game in the College Football Playoff unless they are beaten senselessly by No. 1-ranked Oregon in Indy.

That is, unless they beat Oregon. In this case, they’re among the top four seeds in the playoffs, and… think about it – the number one overall seed would definitely be on the table.

This is a team that lacks anything other than an elite win right now, and hasn’t come close to a four-quarter performance that gives the impression that this is a national championship caliber team.

“It’s difficult, especially with the expansion of these conferences, … to have your team ready to play every week,” Penn State coach James Franklin said. “It’s very difficult and doesn’t happen very often. Look around college football. It doesn’t happen.

“When you play as many games as we do now and the opponents we play against, you have to find other ways to do it. It may not always be pretty, but that’s the beauty of it, right?”‘

Welcome to college football’s new survival and advancement normal. The whole season is a playoff, and this week it’s just one-and-oh.

When Penn State took the field, Franklin said he knew Ohio State had lost but didn’t tell the players, who apparently had no idea.

They didn’t exactly rush out of the gate.

Running back Nick Singleton fumbled the ball on their first offensive snap. On the next snap, Maryland darted into the end zone and scored, MJ Morris to Kaden Prather for a 25-yard touchdown.

Singleton took the next kickoff 66 yards, but that only yielded a field goal. On this day, the offense took a while against one of the worst defenses in the Big Ten.

Penn State’s defense beat Maryland with three interceptions and two fourth-and-one stops along with six sacks for minus-49 yards.

The offense has never been brilliant, except, as has been the case every week for the past three months, with Tyler Warren.

The senior tight end/Swiss Army Knife ran, passed and caught for over 100 yards, which seemed twice as much because they were in terms of power.

Warren has caught more passes this season than any other tight end in Big Ten history.

“Every defensive game plan is that we can’t let 44 affect the game,” Franklin said. “Just like us, it was Tai Helton.”

That’s Maryland’s top receiver, who had four catches for 27 yards on Saturday.

“Everyone said that every week at Tyler Warren, but no one did it,” Franklin said. “He’s a stallion. “I’m going to try to convince his parents to send them on one of those romantic vacations in the Poconos and get them to have more (children).”

That’s the beauty of it, right?

Less pretty: Penn State scored on the game’s passing play and rushed to the line of scrimmage so Beau Pribula could throw a 15-yard pass to freshman Tyseer Denmark in the end zone.

Maryland coach Mike Locksley, who practically walked across the field to shake hands while the pass was in the air, was not pleased. His handshake with Franklin was as cold as the Happy Valley night.

“I have no reaction to it,” Locksley said when asked.

Franklin had an emphatic statement: The new normal is here. Get used to it.

“When the threes and fours come into play, they can play football,” he said. “(Maryland’s) players are in the game, and on top of that, they’re playing cover zero (and encouraging a pass).

“In addition, there is a change in college football. We’re trying to play as long as possible, make the playoffs and be as seeded as possible.

“It comes down to scoring as many points (as possible) and a point difference. Everything that matters. “If you don’t understand, it’s really not my problem.”

Franklin’s problem, a Saturday night game that wasn’t there Saturday morning, is exactly what you want.