Penn State will play in feel-good 2017 Fiesta Bowl vs. Washington

The Nittany Lions' bittersweet season, which may have fell a field goal short of the playoffs, will end in the desert.

Penn State will play Washington in the Fiesta Bowl at 4 p.m. on Dec. 30 in the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. — a bowl featuring some of the Lions' greatest moments.

Penn State will play the Pac-12 Huskies (10-2) with former Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback Jake Browning. They lost to Arizona State and Stanford but did finish strong with a resounding victory over Top 25 rival Washington State.

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The 10-2 Lions played their highly-anticipated season to script except for those excruciating, back-to-back losses on the road against Ohio State and Michigan State. They are No. 9 again in the latest College Football Playoff (CFP) and AP Top 25 rankings.

Now, their bowl matchup is somewhat of a surprising one. Even through Sunday morning, most national projections showed the Lions playing in the Cotton Bowl against TCU or Washington.

The CFP committee seemingly had a difficult decision on Sunday, most figured, once the four playoff teams were announced: They could have re-played last season's Rose Bowl in Arizona with Penn State vs. USC or send Ohio State back to the Fiesta for a third-straight year.

In the end, they switched out everything.

To avoid venue and opponent fatigue, the playoff-snubbed Buckeyes will play USC in the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 29.

The Big Ten failed to qualify a team for the playoffs for the first time, instead placing Wisconsin, Ohio State and the Lions just outside the cut. The previously undefeated Badgers will play Miami in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 30.

Washington, meanwhile, was the last pick to make the so-called New Year's Six bowls. The Huskies came in at No. 11 in the last CFP rankings and were chosen ahead of TCU, Stanford and Notre Dame.

The Lions will face Washington for the first time since the Aloha Bowl in 1983, a 13-10 victory.

And they'll be making their first trip to the Fiesta Bowl since throttling Ricky Williams and the Texas Longhorns following the 1996 season. Of course, Penn State is famous for winning its last national title in the desert, upsetting the Miami Hurricanes there following the 1986 season.

Actually, the Lions are undefeated throughout a long history in the Fiesta. They beat Tennessee there following the 1991 season, USC (post-1981), Ohio State (post 1980) and Arizona State on Christmas Day in 1977.

The Fiesta Bowl also pretty much ensures that coach James Franklin will be $600,000 richer.

It triggers a $300,000 incentive clause for qualifying for one of the four biggest bowl games not in the playoffs. He also will receive another $300,000 retention bonus upon being the head coach on Dec. 31.

That will bring his 2017 earnings to $4.6 million, according to his re-structured contract finalized in August.