Penn State football makes CBS Sports preseason top 10

The college football preseason is officially underway. As Penn State football enters the first weekend of fall camp, it does so as one of the most hyped teams in the sport for 2023. The Nittany Lions have high expectations for this season, and for good reason. Penn State enters the fall with one of the most talented rosters in America, which has been routinely reflected in many preseason rankings. Earlier this week, James Franklin and the Nittany Lions found themselves in yet another preseason top 10 poll, this time from CBS Sports.

Penn State football makes CBS Sports preseason top 10

On Tuesday, CBS Sports released its preseason top 25 rankings for the upcoming 2023 season. The rankings consist of the average of ballots contributed by CBS Sports and 247Sports college football experts for all 133 teams in FBS. Penn State football found itself ranked No. 7 in this 2023 preseason poll, the same spot it ended in the final CBS Sports rankings for 2022. The full top 10 is as follows:

1. Georgia
2. Michigan
3. Ohio State
4. LSU
5. Alabama
6. USC
7. Penn State
8. Florida State
9. Clemson
10. Washington

Where have the Nittany Lions landed in other preseason polls?

Penn State’s ranking is typical of where the Nittany Lions have found themselves across preseason polls this summer. James Franklin’s squad came in at No. 8 of Athlon Sports’s preseason top 10, one of the first rankings released in early June. The Nittany Lions landed just outside the top 5 in the Phil Steele preview magazine top 25, coming in at No. 6. However, Penn State did make the top 5 of preseason modeling produced by Austin Mock of The Athletic in late June.

The high preseason rankings create excitement for Penn State fans around the 2023 season, but they also run the risk of creating distractions for those inside the locker room. While James Franklin welcomes the praise, he has reiterated that the program has remained focused on obtaining its internal goals this season.

“Obviously, I do think there’s some value in starting the season ranked highly,” Franklin said at media availability earlier this summer. “I think it makes the path a little bit easier to get where you want to go at the end of the season. All that stuff is good… It’s good for the community, it’s good for the state, it’s good for our conference, it’s good for Penn State. But at the end of the day, all that stuff really doesn’t matter. And the guys in that locker room and in this building that are working the right way.”

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