Here’s where Penn State football is ranked in the preseason AP Poll | Centre Daily Times

The Associated Press released its college football preseason poll Monday, and Penn State will start off this season similar to how it ended 2017.

The Nittany Lions were ranked No. 10 in the AP Top 25 Preseason Poll, which was made public at noon, after ending last season at No. 8. James Franklin’s program was also ranked No. 9 in the Amway Coaches Preseason Poll, which was released earlier this month.

Although the AP Poll is not factored into the College Football Playoff rankings, its end-of-year rankings are not typically far off from the playoff committee’s list. Both rankings last season had the same top-9 teams after the regular season, and the CFP committee will once again start publicly releasing theirs Oct. 30.

The preseason AP Poll has historically been a decent indicator of future playoff success. In the last four years, 10 of the 16 playoff teams were ranked in the top 5 of the preseason AP Poll. Only one was ranked worse than No. 15 and none worse than No. 19.

Penn State opens the season at home against Appalachian State at 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 1. Before the College Football Playoff rankings are released, the Nittany Lions will have to face Ohio State (Sept. 29), Michigan State (Oct. 13) and Iowa (Oct. 27).

The complete rankings are listed below:

1. Alabama (42 first-place votes)

2. Clemson (18)

3. Georgia

4. Wisconsin (1)

5. Ohio State

6. Washington

7. Oklahoma

8. Miami (Fla.)

9. Auburn

10. Penn State

11. Michigan State

12. Notre Dame

13. Stanford

14. Michigan

15. USC

16. TCU

17. West Virginia

18. Mississippi State

19. Florida State

20. Virginia Tech

21. UCF

22. Boise State

23. Texas

24. Oregon

25. LSU