Did Penn State football move up in the top-25 rankings after embarrassing Maryland?

Even the absolute dismantling of Maryland couldn’t move Penn State up in the polls this weekend.

The Nittany Lions (4-0) remained steady at No. 12 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 Poll, which was released Sunday afternoon. The problem obviously wasn’t with Penn State — which put together one of the most complete games of the James Franklin era with a 59-0 win — but no teams ranked in front of the Nittany Lions lost this week. That limited PSU’s potential for mobility.

Still, opinion clearly moved in Penn State’s favor. Franklin’s squad put more distance between itself and the teams ranked behind it; PSU had 848 voting points last week but had 878 points Sunday.

Movement was overall limited in the top half of the polls. No team in the top 14 moved more than one spot — with three pairs of teams trading places. Alabama and Clemson traded spots, with Bama now No. 1 to Clemson’s No. 2; Ohio State and LSU switched places, with the Buckeyes at No. 4 and LSU at No. 5; and Notre Dame and Florida flip-flopped, with the Irish at No. 9 and the Gators at No. 10.

As it stands, both 247 Sports and CBS Sports now agree on the Nittany Lions’ bowl destination. Both project Penn State to take on the Florida Gators in the Outback Bowl. That bowl will kick off at 1 p.m. on Jan. 1 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla.

It may not be the College Football Playoff, but Penn State still controls its own destiny. As long as it keeps winning, it should continue inching closer to the top 4.

Regardless, it remains early in the season. These projections tend to change every week. And, as we like to remind readers, the AP Poll offers a nice barometer to how experts are currently feeling about Penn State, 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 more than a month until then, the AP Poll offers 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 current AP Poll, Penn State remains in solid position when it comes to the rest of the conference. Ohio State is still the team to beat as it came in at No. 4 — followed by Wisconsin (No. 8), Penn State (No. 12), Iowa (No. 14) and Michigan (No. 19).

Michigan State and Minnesota are both receiving votes in the poll.

The next AP Poll will be released 2 p.m. on Oct. 6.

The full top-25 rankings are below:

1. Alabama 1,478

2. Clemson 1,426

3. Georgia 1,375

4. Ohio State 1,324

5. LSU 1,322

6. Oklahoma 1,264

7. Auburn 1,186

8. Wisconsin 1,046

9. Notre Dame 996

10. Florida 986

11. Texas 919

12. Penn State 878

13. Oregon 817

14. Iowa 731

15. Washington 603

16. Boise State 559

17. Utah 534

18. UCF 352

19. Michigan 350

20. Arizona State 249

21. Oklahoma State 215

22. Wake Forest 190

23. Virginia 186

24. SMU 151

25. Texas A&M 147

Others receiving votes: Michigan State 147, California 141, Memphis 71, Appalachian State 50, Army 44, Missouri 26, Baylor 19, Colorado 19, Minnesota 15, USC 7, Tulane 1, Kansas State 1

This story was originally published September 29, 2019 at 2:15 PM.