After its bye week, Penn State dropped two spots in the Associated Press Top-25 Poll but remain in the top 10.
After being at No. 8 since the season opened, the Nittany Lions now sit at No. 10 in the latest poll, which was released Sunday afternoon. Miami and Oregon, which were both behind Penn State in last week’s poll, each beat their opponents on Saturday. Other movement in the top 10 included Texas taking Georgia’s No. 1 spot.
Last week, Penn State was the second highest-ranked team in the Big Ten. Now back behind Oregon, they’re the third-highest ranked team in the Big Ten — Ohio State maintains its spot in the poll at No. 3. Other ranked Big Ten teams are: USC (No. 11), Michigan (No. 18), Nebraska (No. 22), and Illinois (No. 24). Iowa and Indiana are both receiving votes in the poll.
The Fighting Illini made their debut in the rankings and are now 3-0 after defeating Central Michigan. They’ll travel to Happy Valley on Sept. 28 to face the Nittany Lions.
Penn State now has 1,050 voting points; it had 1,090 last week.
The Nittany Lions are not expected to have trouble getting to 3-0 this week when they face Kent State at Beaver Stadium, with the Golden Flashes suffering a 71-0 loss Saturday to No. 6 Tennessee.
The full AP rankings are below.
AP Top 25
(Sept. 15, 2024)
1. Texas (35 first-place votes) 1,540
2. Georgia (23 first-place votes) 1,518
3. Ohio State (5 first-place votes) 1,461
4. Alabama 1,358
5. Ole Miss 1,316
6. Tennessee 1,188
7. Missouri 1,127
8. Miami 1,094
9. Oregon 1,093
10. Penn State 1,050
11. USC 1,008
12. Utah 912
13. Kansas State 836
14. Oklahoma State 742
15. Oklahoma 649
16. LSU 537
17. Notre Dame 477
18. Michigan 447
19. Louisville 418
20. Iowa State 354
21. Clemson 291
22. Nebraska 266
23. Northern Illinois 151
24. Illinois 137
25. Texas A&M: 82
Others receiving votes: Memphis 77, Boise St. 62, Syracuse 62, UNLV 54, Boston College 47, Washington St. 30, Arizona 15, Iowa 15, Indiana 13, California 11, Liberty 10, Toledo 9, UCF 6, South Carolina 3, North Carolina 3, Arizona St. 3, BYU 2, Pittsburgh 1.