Penn State unranked in AP top 25 poll for first time in 3 years after UCLA loss
After starting the college football season at No. 2 in the Associated Press Top-25 poll, Penn State has dropped out of the poll completely after Saturday’s disastrous loss to UCLA.
The Nittany Lions were ranked No. 7 last week, which came on the heels of a double overtime loss to Oregon in the White Out game. But Saturday’s 42-37 loss to unranked UCLA was a different story, all but eliminating the Nittany Lions’ playoff hopes this season and leading fans to call for head coach James Franklin to be fired.
Penn State received 97 voting points in this week’s poll, which was released Sunday afternoon.
This is the first time since the start of the 2022 season that the Nittany Lions are unranked. They’re not the only ones with a drastic plummet in the rankings — preseason No. 1 Texas is also outside of the top 25 this week after losing to unranked Florida.
With Penn State’s stunning loss to UCLA, it is now 0-2 in Big Ten play.
For other ranked Big Ten teams, Ohio State remains in the No. 1 spot, Oregon is No. 3, Indiana No. 7, Michigan No. 15 and Illinois No. 17. Penn State will face Ohio State on Nov. 1 and Indiana the week after and will need to win both to keep their playoff hopes alive.
The Nittany Lions will next face Northwestern during homecoming. The game kicks off at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
AP Top 25
(Oct. 5, 2025)
1. Ohio State 1,620 (40 first-place votes)
2. Miami (Fla.) 1,579 (21 first-place votes)
3. Oregon 1,542 (5 first-place votes)
4. Ole Miss 1,376
5. Texas A&M 1,361
6. Oklahoma 1,346
7. Indiana 1,213
8. Alabama 1,202
9. Texas Tech 1,135
10. Georgia 1,084
11. LSU 949
12. Tennessee 892
13. Georgia Tech 782
14. Missouri 775
15. Michigan 707
16. Notre Dame 610
17. Illinois 522
18. BYU 463
19. Virginia 452
20. Vanderbilt 407
21. Arizona State 214
22. Iowa State 165
23. Memphis 153
24. South Florida 150
25. Florida State 147
Others receiving votes: Cincinnati 129, Texas 111, Penn State 97, Utah 84, Nebraska 60, Southern Cal 46, UNLV 19, North Texas 16, TCU 14, Washington 10, Mississippi St. 10, Navy 4, Louisville 3, Auburn 1.
