Penn State was last unranked prior to playing Ohio State in 2016 and is unranked for the first time in 63 polls (for which it was eligible) following a 38-25 loss to Ohio State in 2020.
The Nittany Lions no longer being ranked breaks the program’s third-longest streak of consecutive appearances in the AP Poll.
It’s unclear how this streak might officially be recorded as the AP Poll briefly did not have Big Ten teams eligible for consideration prior to the conference’s decision to return to play in 2020, effectively breaking the streak on a technicality rather than the result of Penn State’s own play.
In either case the Nittany Lions sit 0-2 on the year with bigger problems to solve than rankings. Penn State will face Maryland this upcoming weekend before heading to Nebraska. The road ahead for the Nittany Lions is considerably easier -in theory- following a tricky opener at Indiana and Saturday night’s loss to Ohio State.
Ohio State rounds out the Big Ten at No. 3 while Wisconsin (10) Indiana (13) and Michigan (23) follow not far behind. Only three teams are higher than Penn State in the ‘receiving votes’ category including 2-0 Northwestern, the first team just outside the Top 25.
Penn State opened the year ranked No. 8 in the nation.
