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Ranking sports teams is a difficult task because everyone values different things, and this is especially true with college football. Some people value strength of opponents, while others value overall consistency year-after-year, and some people place the most emphasis on how dominant teams look in their wins.
The AP Poll is frequently criticized when a new batch of top-25 teams is released, which just goes to show how much variety of opinions exists in these rankings. Well, Paul Myerberg, Blake Toppmeyer, Jordan Mendoza, and Eddie Timanus of USA Today attempted to rank the 25 best teams in college football in 2026, and Penn State made the list.
The Nittany Lions came in at No. 12, which is a miracle after the year they had last year. Still, they have a history of consistency and a strong culture that Matt Campbell is trying to build and expand on, so they were given the benefit of the doubt. We know the list takes some type of historical precedent into consideration because Penn State is ranked ahead of the defending champions, the indiana Hoosiers.
There’s no surprise that the usual suspects, like Ohio State and Alabama, are at the top of this list, but the Nittany Lions will be happy to know that they’re only behind four Big Ten teams on this list. The Buckeyes, along with Michigan, Oregon, and USC are the only teams in the conference ranked ahead of Penn State.
They may not have had a ton of success with national championships in their history, but they’ve had some historic coaches and have a storied pipeline of players who become superstars in the NFL. There’s some angst in the Nittany Lions fanbase as they wait to achieve glory again for the first time in more than 40 years, but there should be some pride in the fact that the team is one of the best, and most prestigious programs in the nation.
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This article originally appeared on Nittany Lions Wire: Penn State named top-25 team in college football
