Penn State football jumps defending National Champion, gains ground on the top in final preseason power rankings

While Penn State football prepares for kickoff against West Virginia in two weeks, ESPN’s widely-cited SP+ likes the team James Franklin is assembling in Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions received a notable boost in the popular analytic tool’s final preseason power rankings of 2024, leapfrogging over reigning National Champion Michigan and inching closer towards the top five.

Penn State comes in at No. 6 in the preseason SP+, up from No. 7 in the post-spring power rankings. The Nittany Lions trade places with Sherrone Moore and the Wolverines, who were No. 6 following spring practice.

“James Franklin’s Nittany Lions are 21-5 over the past two seasons — 0-4 against top-five caliber Michigan and Ohio State teams and 21-1 against everyone else,” writes Bill Connelly, the mind behind SP+. “Those losses contribute to a general perception of underachievement for PSU, but SP+ has still ranked them sixth or better after four of the past six full seasons and projects them sixth to start 2024. Voters didn’t have them too far away, but they were still eighth in the AP poll and ninth in the coaches poll.”

Penn State football gaining ground on the field

Mandatory Credit: Matthew O’Haren-USA TODAY Sports

The Nittany Lions’ aggregated SP+ score, determined using a combination of returning production, recent recruiting, and recent history, was 26.1, down from 26.8. However, Penn State’s power ranking change of -0.7 points was the second-lowest in the top 10, only behind Notre Dame at -0.6.

As a result, Penn State football is now within two points of No. 5 Texas and approximately eight points behind No. 1 Georgia. The Nittany Lions are power-rated third in the Big Ten behind No. 2 Ohio State (30.8) and No. 3 Oregon (29).

While the SP+ power rankings are a helpful way to measure Penn State football against the national landscape, they are ultimately an analytical tool. In terms of on-the-field progress, James Franklin is pleased with what he’s seen during camp but acknowledges that consistency will be key for the Nittany Lions in 2024.

“It’s more even than it’s been in the past,” Franklin said last week. “What I would say is we’re still inconsistent with that, where, to me, it should come down to, like, one or two reps in every period who wins. And we have that. But then we have other days where the defense dominates a period. Then we’ll have other days where offense dominates a period.

“And what I talk to the guys about is, we can’t have a bad quarter on offense or a bad quarter on defense. We got to make sure for the games that we want to win, we got to play really well in all three phases.”

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