Penn State Football: Nittany Lions Hold Steady in Latest Rankings

Penn State football held its spot at No. 5 in this week’s AP Top 25 poll.

The Nittany Lions were idle on Saturday during their second of two bye weeks this season. Interestingly, each of the top three teams in the AP Top 25 poll — LSU, Alabama, and Ohio State — also did not have games on Saturday. The only top-five team to play this week was No. 4 Clemson, which beat Wofford 59-14. As far as the rest of the top 10 is concerned, Georgia took down Florida to leap-frog the Gators and move up two spots to No. 6.

James Franklin’s program has now been ranked in the AP Top 25 poll for 51 consecutive weeks. That’s the fifth-longest active streak in all of college football behind Alabama (190 consecutive weeks), Ohio State (124), Clemson (79), and Oklahoma (51) are the only other teams with longer streaks than the Nittany Lions. Penn State has moved up 10 spots since earning the No. 15 spot in the 2019 preseason AP Top 25 poll, and it’s been ranked in the poll since pulling off a White Out upset of then-No. 2 Ohio State at Beaver Stadium on October 22, 2016.

On top of this week’s AP Top 25 poll, Penn State checked in at No. 5 in the newest Coaches’ Poll. The Nittany Lions began this season at No. 14 in that poll, and they’ve only moved up since then.

No. 5 Penn State (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten) will travel to the Twin Cities to face No. 13 Minnesota (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten). The game will begin at noon on Saturday and be broadcast nationally on ABC.