What comes next?
A football game.
In it, a trip to warm Miami, serving as a brief respite from the snow, the cold and everything else that makes winters in this part of the country so damn miserable, even if Monday’s snow was the first real taste of it.
Out of it will be a team that plays for a national championship.
What comes next is a football game where Penn State will play Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.
The what and the if make it mean so much more.
For the first time in the College Football Playoff era, Penn State is one win away from reaching the national championship game and that if makes the what so compelling.
So much has been said and so much has been written about this idea of where Penn State is in the national landscape.
You know. I don’t need to rehash it for you and I don’t know that I can change your mind on it either.
That’s because all of that is gray. Right now, Penn State’s game with Notre Dame is black and white.
The what of right now is that this is the biggest game for James Franklin. This is the biggest game for Drew Allar. This is the biggest game for Nicholas Singleton, Tyler Warren, Abdul Carter, Tony Rojas, Danny O’Brien, Andy Kotelnicki and everyone else that plays for and coaches Penn State football.
This is, for a lot of Penn State fans 35 years and younger, the biggest Penn State game in their lives – myself included.
This is – for the critics, the national media, the haters, the doubters, the believers – the biggest game for those searching for proof of where Penn State is nationally.
That’s what this game is about for Penn State.
We’ve debated big wins and small wins. We’re already debating good vs. great. We can debate “elite” later.
But push all of that aside for a moment. The outcome for Penn State on Thursday night in the Orange Bowl is oh-so-very binary.
Either Penn State is or is not going to play for a national championship.
If Penn State wins, its season goes on. If Penn State loses, its season is over.
Yes, the previous two College Football Playoff games that Penn State has played in this season held the same outcomes.
But this one feels just a bit different. It’s just a bit bigger. It’s just a bit more important.
Getting to that national championship game would be the most visible landmark in where this program is at. Getting there answers so many questions from so many people.
Thursday feels like if things go the way Penn State fans want them to, it will be a gigantic exhale.
It feels like if things don’t, it’ll be a gigantic headache.
(At least, though, it seems a lot of those fans will get the aforementioned trip to Florida out of it.)
But all of that, all of the curiosity, all of the excitement, all of the waiting for a moment like this to show up is worth it for the what if.
There has been a palpable buzz charging through Penn State’s fan base after Nicholas Singleton busted open a run for 58 yards and a touchdown because it offered a new next.
This playoff run has already been enjoyable and electric in some many ways because of all of those nexts. The home playoff game lived up to the hype. Against Boise State, Penn State’s defense played like the Penn State defense that’s been prophesied about for years on end.
And it’s hard to not want to keep knowing what happens next — or rather will there be another next.
What will it feel like? What if they get there? What if this team really is that good? What if they really do deserve to be in this moment?
And what if they don’t? Then what comes next?
This playoff run has become the search for those answers.
What comes next in the immediacy is a football game.
It’s a football game that will make you think about what if regardless of outcome.
That’s what comes next.
vs 
Time: 7:30 p.m.
TV: ESPN
Announcers: Sean McDonough, Greg McElroy, Molly McGrath, Katie George
Megacast Options Available on Other ESPN Networks
Radio: Penn State Sports Network
Announcers: Steve Jones, Jack Ham, Brian Tripp
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