Today's

news headlines feature updated bowl projections and praise for Saquon Barkley's decision to play in the Lions' bowl game.

Jerry Palm from CBS Sports

in the Cotton Bowl, a game that will be played Dec. 29 in Arlington, Texas. Palm's College Football Playoff forecast also went unchanged as he kept a final four of No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Clemson, No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 4 Wisconsin.

ESPN's David Hale

in the Cotton Bowl, while his colleague Kyle Bonagura is picking a Citrus Bowl appearance against Mississippi State.

Wherever Penn State goes bowling, Barkley has made the decision to play and avoid the same path that proved successful for Christian McCaffrey and Leonard Fournette last postseason. Health is on Barkley's side, he said after the win over Nebraska, but more importantly, he said he just loves football and his teammates. Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

.

"It's important to me [to play in a bowl] because I love football, and to be really honest, my teammates," Barkley said. "If my teammates came out and said don't play in the bowl game, I probably wouldn't, but at the end of the day I'm not playing for media, I'm playing for my teammates, my brothers, and from the offseason on, blood, sweat and tears, and my coaches too; I wouldn't be the person I am without those people."

In other Penn State football news, the Big Ten will cause controversy in the playoff race. Penn State opens as a big favorite at Maryland, and new layers are unveiling for Juwan Johnson.

Those headlines and more highlight today's Penn State football news roundup:

: Dinich [ESPN]

: Pickel [PennLive]

: Pickel [PennLive]

: Poorman [StateCollege.com]

: Cook [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

: Eckert [Blue-White Illustrated]

: Wogenrich [Allentown Morning Call]

: McGonigal [Centre Daily Times]

: Flounders [PennLive]

: Jones [StateCollege.com]

: Donohue [Land of 10]

: Callahan [Lions 247]

: Gross [Lancaster Online]

Premium articles ($):

: Wiltfong [Lions 247]

: Wiltfong [Lions 247]