High Preseason Rankings Haven't Been Kind to Penn State in the Past

The Nittany Lions are No. 2 in the AP Top 25, their highest preseason ranking since 1997. That season didn't go as hoped.

Penn State football coach James Franklin leads the Nittany Lions onto the field for the Orange Bowl vs. the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Penn State enters the 2025 college football season with its highest preseason ranking in 28 years, landing at No. 2 in the first AP Top 25 Poll of the year. The Nittany Lions have not ranked this highly in a preseason AP poll since beginning the 1997 season at No. 1.

Penn State is second, by just five points, to Texas, which received 25 first-place votes to Penn State's 2023 in the preseason AP Top 25. For the Nittany Lions, though, early top-10 rankings haven't necessarily predicted high-achieving years.

In that 1997 season, for instance, Penn State was ranked first or second until a 34-8 loss at Michigan in November dropped it to No. 6. Penn State finished the season 9-3 and ranked 16th in the final poll. And in the Big Ten era, Penn State has won just one conference title when ranked in the AP preseason top 10.

During that time, the Nittany Lions have outpaced their preseason ranking just twice when starting in the top 10. No wonder Penn State coach James Franklin recently dismissed the preseason polls.

The 2024 Nittany Lions began the season ranked eighth in the AP Top 25, won a school-record 13 games and made the College Football playoff semifinals to finish fifth in the final poll. And the 1994 team began the season ranked No. 9, went 12-0 and finished second to Nebraska in the final poll. Penn State did finish No. 1 in the New York Times computer poll, though.

Penn State's AP top-10 rankings in the Big Ten era

Prior to this season, Penn State was ranked in the preseason AP top-10 nine times during its Big Ten era. The Nittany Lions finished above their preseason ranking just twice, in 1994 and 2024.

Year	Preseason Ranking	Final Ranking
2024	No. 8	No. 5
2023	No. 7	No. 13
2020	No. 7	Unranked
2017	No. 6	No. 8
2009	No. 9	No. 9
1999	No. 3	No. 11
1997	No. 1	No. 16
1995	No. 4	No. 13
1994	No. 9	No. 2

Source: College Poll Archive

But what about Penn State's best seasons? In some cases, the Nittany Lions came from deep in the preseason rankings to produce their most memorable campaigns.

1982

Penn State Nittany Lions head coach Joe Paterno is carried off the field after defeating the Georgia Bulldogs in the 1983 Sugar Bowl at the Superdome. | Malcolm Emmons-Imagn Images

• Preseason ranking: No. 8

• Final ranking: No. 1

Penn State never strayed from the AP top-10 during its first national championship season, even after a 42-21 loss at Alabama in a 3-4 matchup. The Nittany Lions finished the regular season with six straight wins, three over ranked teams, and clinched the title with a 27-23 win over Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.

1986

Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback John Shaffer (14) hands the ball off to running back D.J. Dozier (42) during the 1987 Fiesta Bowl against the Miami Hurricanes. | RVR Photos-Imagn Images

• Preseason ranking: No. 6

• Final ranking: No. 1

The 1986 Nittany Lions certainly weren't underdogs, returning plenty of talent from a 1985 team that went 11-1 and was undefeated and ranked No. 1 before losing to Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. This team produced Joe Paterno's fourth unbeaten season and his only unbeaten national champion, defeating Miami 14-10 in the legendary Fiesta Bowl.

1994

Penn State’s Joe Jurevicius catches a Kerry Collins pass to set up a Nittany Lions touchdown in the 1995 Rose Bowl vs. the Oregon Ducks. | Andy Nelson/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

• Preseason ranking: No. 9

• Final ranking: No. 2

The 1994 season provided one of the great AP Poll controversies. The Nittany Lions climbed to No. 1 after consecutive wins over Michigan (31-24) and Ohio State (63-14) but fell to No. 2 following a 35-29 victory over Indiana. They couldn't climb out of that spot, finishing 12-0 with a win over Oregon in the Rose Bowl but a No. 2 finish behind Nebraska.

2005

• Preseason ranking: Unranked

• Final ranking: No. 3

Penn State made its most dramatic rankings move in 2005, going from unranked in the preseason to No. 3 in the final poll. After four losing seasons in five years, the Nittany Lions flew below everyone's radar in 2005. But Michael Robinson took over at quarterback, freshmen receivers Derrick Williams, Justin King, Deon Butler and Jordan Norwood sparked the offense and linebacker Paul Posluszny won the Butkus Award. Penn State finished 11-1, losing only on a walk-off touchdown at Michigan.

2008

Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Daryll Clark (17) in action against Southern California Trojans linebacker Brian Cushing (10) during the 2009 Rose Bowl. | Imagn Images

Preseason ranking: No. 22

Final ranking: No. 8

After the 2007 Nittany Lions went 9-4 and finished the season unranked, expecations were measured for 2008. But quarterback Daryll Clark led a high-scoring offense that won nine straight games and went to Iowa ranked third. A 24-23 loss to the unranked Hawkeyes ended the Nittany Lions' national-championship hopes. Penn State finished 11-2, falling to USC in the Rose Bowl.

2016

• Preseason ranking: Unranked

• Final ranking: No. 7 (5th in the CFP rankings)

Another from-nowhere story, as the Nittany Lions didn't enter the AP weekly rankings until Week 8 after their 24-21 win over No. 2 Ohio State. Penn State continued its climb through a nine-game win streak, just missing the College Football Playoff at No. 5 after beating Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game. The Nittany Lions finished seventh in the AP poll following a loss to USC in the Rose Bowl.