Throughout the spring and summer, Penn State football became a trendy pick to be the No. 1 overall team when preseason rankings started to come out in August. Well now, the wait is finally over, and we know where the Nittany Lions stand in the first preseason poll of 2025.
On Monday afternoon, USA Today released the preseason Coaches Poll. While the Blue and White earned 14 No. 1 votes, the top spot ultimately went to Texas. The Longhorns received 28 first-place votes, followed by Ohio State, which came in at No. 2 with 20 votes.
The ranking is the program’s highest in the preseason Coaches Poll since 1999, when the Nittany Lions started the season at No. 4.
In addition to Penn State and Ohio State, Oregon also earned a top-10 ranking, coming in at No. 7.
James Franklin and the Nittany Lions will learn their place in the first AP top 25 of the 2025 season next Monday.
“No one cares about preseason rankings,” Franklin said on Saturday. “Like, I’m not going to frame the preseason rankings and put it in my basement, in the man cave. No, no one cares. No, no one cares. So all that’s wonderful.
“We want to spend our time working on the things that are going to allow us to do things that we want to do this year, starting with Nevada, and creating the habits and behaviors that will get us there, not talking about not spending a ton of time talking about their goals and those types of things. There’s a place for it, but we’re focused on what we have to do to have the type of season that we want to have.”
Full preseason Coaches Poll rankings
| Rank |
Team |
|
PTS |
1st |
|
|
|
| 1 |
Texas
|
|
1606 |
28 |
|
|
|
| 2 |
Ohio State
|
|
1565 |
20 |
|
|
|
| 3 |
Penn State
|
|
1525 |
14 |
|
|
|
| 4 |
Georgia
|
|
1466 |
3 |
|
|
|
| 5 |
Notre Dame
|
|
1360 |
|
|
|
|
| 6 |
Clemson
|
|
1324 |
2 |
|
|
|
| 7 |
Oregon
|
|
1307 |
|
|
|
|
| 8 |
Alabama
|
|
1210 |
|
|
|
|
| 9 |
LSU
|
|
1056 |
|
|
|
|
| 10 |
Miami (FL)
|
|
823 |
|
|
|
|
| 11 |
Arizona State
|
|
806 |
|
|
|
|
| 12 |
Illinois
|
|
734 |
|
|
|
|
| 13 |
South Carolina
|
|
665 |
|
|
|
|
| 14 |
Michigan
|
|
580 |
|
|
|
|
| 15 |
Ole Miss
|
|
573 |
|
|
|
|
| 16 |
SMU
|
|
555 |
|
|
|
|
| 17 |
Florida
|
|
498 |
|
|
|
|
| 18 |
Tennessee
|
|
492 |
|
|
|
|
| 19 |
Indiana
|
|
460 |
|
|
|
|
| 20 |
Kansas State
|
|
438 |
|
|
|
|
| 21 |
Texas A&M
|
|
392 |
|
|
|
|
| 21 |
Iowa State
|
|
392 |
|
|
|
|
| 23 |
BYU
|
|
287 |
|
|
|
|
| 24 |
Texas Tech
|
|
261 |
|
|
|
|
| 25 |
Boise State
|
|
246 |
|
|
|
|
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