Less than a week until season, Penn State football moves up to No. 8 in Week 7 AP Poll
With less than a week until it kicks off its season, Penn State climbed to No. 8 in the AP Top 25 Poll this week. This is the Nittany Lions’ highest ranking in the poll since being previously ranked No. 7 in the preseason AP Poll on Aug. 24.
Penn State checked in at No. 9 last week, staying steady at that ranking for two consecutive weeks. The Nittany Lions have remained in the top 10 since Big Ten teams were again eligible for the AP Poll starting Sept. 27. Penn State rose in the poll after two top-10 teams lost this weekend. On Saturday, No. 4 Georgia (previously No. 3) was dismantled by No. 2 Alabama, and No. 14 North Carolina (previously No. 5) was upset by unranked Florida State.
The Nittany Lions — who open their season at Indiana on Saturday — received 1,033 voting points in this week’s rankings. They received 970 voting points last week.
As it stands, CBS Sports projects Penn State to take on No. 10 Florida in the Peach Bowl on Jan. 1 in Atlanta.
Penn State is joined by four other Big Ten teams in the AP Poll. Ohio State still leads the conference at No. 5, followed by Penn State, No. 14 Wisconsin, No. 18 Michigan and No. 21 Minnesota. The Buckeyes and Wolverines both moved up one spot from last week, the Badgers jumped two spots and the Golden Gophers leaped three spots.
Iowa — which was ranked in the preseason top 25 — and Indiana both received votes.
The next AP Poll will be released Oct. 25 at 2 p.m.
The full top-25 rankings are below:
1. Clemson (5-0), 1,542
2. Alabama (4-0), 1,494
3. Notre Dame (4-0), 1,337
4. Georgia (3-1), 1,300
5. Ohio State (0-0), 1,223
6. Oklahoma State (3-0), 1,137
7. Texas A&M (3-1), 1,054
8. Penn State (0-0), 1,033
9. Cincinnati (3-0), 1,028
10. Florida (2-1), 942
11. Miami (4-1), 887
12. Brigham Young (5-0), 875
13. Oregon (0-0), 841
14. North Carolina (3-1), 677
15. Wisconsin (0-0), 677
16. SMU (5-0), 638
17. Iowa State (3-1), 511
18. Michigan (0-0), 489
19. Virginia Tech (3-1), 411
20. Kansas State (3-1), 399
21. Minnesota (0-0), 234
22. Marshall (4-0), 227
23. North Carolina State (4-1), 199
24. USC (0-0), 192
25. Coastal Carolina (4-0), 185
Others receiving votes: Memphis 76, Oklahoma 74, Tulsa 58, West Virginia 57, Auburn 48, Iowa 42, Louisiana-Lafayette 40, Liberty 37, Utah 36, UAB 30, Army 29, Arkansas 15, Air Force 14, Kentucky 12, Tennessee 11, Virginia 9, Arizona State 9, Washington 8, South Carolina 8, Indiana 4, Texas 1
