How much did Penn State move up in the top-25 rankings after demolishing FCS Idaho?

Penn State’s highest-scoring game since 1991 — a 79-7 victory over FCS Idaho on Saturday — didn’t sway voters in the latest Associated Press Top 25 Poll.

The Nittany Lions remained steady at No. 15 in the poll, which was released Tuesday afternoon. The updated spot wasn’t exactly a surprise, either.

Sure, Penn State performed well in Week 1 — but so did just about every other ranked team. Only one preseason top-25 program, Oregon, lost over the weekend. And that was to fellow top-25 program Auburn, 27-21.

Oregon dropped five spots to No. 16, while the Tigers moved up six spaces to No. 10. Most everything else stayed the same. Nineteen of the teams in the top 25 didn’t move more than one spot, while four others — besides Oregon and Auburn — moved at least two: Florida dropped three spots to No. 11, Wisconsin rose two spots to No. 17, Stanford rose two spots to No. 23, and Boise State is now ranked at No. 24.

As it stands, two ESPN.com experts currently predict Penn State to finish just short of the College Football Playoff and Rose Bowl. Mark Schlabach projects Penn State-Syracuse in the Capital One Orange Bowl, while Kyle Bonagura believes the Citrus Bowl, against Auburn, is the Nittany Lions’ likely destination.

Obviously, it’s incredibly early in the season and those projections might change a dozen times between now and then. But the AP Poll offers a nice barometer to how experts are currently feeling about the Nittany Lions, before the College Football Playoff committee releases its first set of rankings Nov. 5.

The committee’s rankings are the ones that really matter. But, with two months until then, the AP Poll has some value — although it’s worth reminding Penn State was unranked in Week 7 of the 2016 season and, a month later, was a top-10 team. A lot can happen in a short period of time.

In the AP Poll, Penn State still has some catching up to do. Ohio State remains the Big Ten team to beat, as it came in as the conference’s top-ranked team at No. 5 — with Michigan trailing behind at No. 7, followed by Penn State (No. 15), Wisconsin (No. 17), Michigan State (No. 19), Iowa (No. 20) and Nebraska (No. 25). Minnesota is also also receiving votes.

The next AP poll will be released Sunday afternoon.

The full top-25 rankings are below:

1. Clemson (1,542 voting points)

2 Alabama (1,493)

3. Georgia (1,407)

4. Oklahoma (1,337)

5. Ohio State (1,270)

6. LSU (1,233)

7. Michigan (1,126)

8. Notre Dame (1,037)

9. Texas (1,032)

10. Auburn (958)

11. Florida (940)

12. Texas A&M (862)

13. Utah (826)

14. Washington (768)

15. Penn State (688)

16. Oregon (568)

17. Wisconsin (519)

18. UCF (445)

19. Michigan State (409)

20. Iowa (351)

21. Syracuse (246)

22. Washington State (244)

23. Stanford (198)

24. Boise State (179)

25. Nebraska (86)

Others receiving votes: Iowa State 86, Virginia 73, TCU 61, Mississippi State 50, Cincinnati 48, Army 31, Miami (FL) 10, Oklahoma State 8, Memphis 6, Arizona State 4, Appalachian State 4, Minnesota 2, USC 1, Boston College 1, North Carolina 1

This story was originally published September 3, 2019 at 2:11 PM.