The preseason Associated Press top 25 poll has been revealed, and Penn State is considered one of the top teams in college football ahead of the 2024 season.
Penn State was ranked No. 8 in the 2024 preseason AP poll, which was released on Monday.
The poll was voted on by a collection of college football media members across the country, including PennLive’s Johnny McGonigal, who ranked the Nittany Lions slightly higher.
I believe around 5th or 6th.
Southern, your enthusiasm is infectious but not quite enough to make me optimistic beyond a 9 or 10-win season.
Penn State has a lot of talent but other teams do as well ........ the boys have 17 more days to ride the hype and then they have to prove they can dominate on the field, overcome adversity and make other teams quit. At this point, I am a doubter. I don't think James Franklin has the ability to inspire the players to attain an elite level or the capability to create a championship culture.
I just don't feel like we can beat Ohio State, I just have this feeling like it's going to be the same 'ol song and dance:
10-2: lose to OSU and someone else we should have beat. Probably be ranked 1-2 spots out of the playoff as usual.
@roaminglion and Tae 10-2 playing in the big 10 gets you in the playoffs imo. If DA improves just a little we beat Ohio St and win the big 10 12-1. If we get the DA of last year we finish 10-2 just like the last 2 years. I’m hearing good things from my son about him and he’s very optimistic he’s going to be better. We’ll find out the first game of the season I believe. I’m not sold on the Ohio St HC and they lost their QB.
They also got Will Howard from KSU and Julian Sayin from Alabama... two of the highest ranked QB's in the portal. Both are probably upgrades from McCord.@roaminglion and Tae 10-2 playing in the big 10 gets you in the playoffs imo. If DA improves just a little we beat Ohio St and win the big 10 12-1. If we get the DA of last year we finish 10-2 just like the last 2 years. I’m hearing good things from my son about him and he’s very optimistic he’s going to be better. We’ll find out the first game of the season I believe. I’m not sold on the Ohio St HC and they lost their QB.
I’m hearing good things about freshman WR Denmark but will JF actually play him enough to make an impact if he’s worthy of the playing time? I believe the D will have weaknesses and the offense is going to need to be vastly improved for the team to make the playoff.Our schedule is far from the toughest we’ve had in the last few years but IMO we’ll be on the playoff bubble and finish the season with 3 losses
If JF loses 2 or more games during the season this year, at what point is his time up? I am certain we can go back the past 10 years and pick quite a few games that PSU had NO business losing. Games YOU AND I could have probably closed out with a Win by making better game time decisions. 10-2, 9-3 and a nice bowl game payout seems acceptable with the University. But if you have taken notice, those 100K + attendance days against mediocre teams continues to dwindle down to the point where 75,000 and less is going to become the norm if Penn State doesn't soon become a top 1 or 2 season ranked team. A number 1 ranked PSU team vs Bowling Green would most likely be a full stadium. They may announce 105K this year, but I promise you they will be lucky to fill 90,000 seats. People are getting tired of getting pumped up at the beginning of the season to only see the dream get squashed when Ohio State continues to dominate and knock the Lions out of contention. And quite honestly, Penn State had the opportunity to win quite a few of those match ups and JF just flat out lost them!
Do I think JF has done good by the University? I do. I actually do. But Penn State has a history of winning the BIG TIME games and that is not what JF has delivered. And quite honestly, you almost have to go back to 2005 to really see the last time Penn State had a dominate team. 2016 was a great year, beat Pitt and they probably made the playoffs. Take out 2016 and Penn State has been average at best for the past 18 years. It has been 38 years since Penn State won a National Title. In 1994 Penn State was probably the best team in the country. So maybe say it has been 30 years since they have been National Champions. 2017,2019 and 2022? Great years, but the same old same old....lose to Michigan and Ohio State.
Roam - we need to get it done this year! They have a good team. No reason with the talent that they have they don't start out 5-0. But the next 4 games? Wisconsin and USC on the road are by no mean cake walks. Ohio State at home and then Washington? Franklin needs to stay focused, or they could go 5-0 and then 0-4. If JF goes 5-0 and then ends up 5-4, 6-3 or 7-2......that is on him. And then at that point, somebody needs to take a hard look at what he is doing. I have no problem going 10-2 and even 8-4 ( every so often ). But 12-0 and 11-1 have got to find their way back into this program.....and it needs to start this year!
GO STATE!
@mtnittanylion I can think of a few games where our players also didn’t get it done. Hamilton let the ball go right through his hands in the Pitt game that would’ve won the game in 2016. Bell drops an iNT in the USC game, stupid penalty in a couple of Michigan St games cost us late and our RB fumbled in the Ohio St game that would’ve put the game away. JF has put these guys in position to win and we choked but it happens to all teams not just Penn St. I’m with you get everybody on the same page and get it done this year we have the talent to win it all or at least get there.
@mtnittanylion The university isn't pumping money into facilities like they are to be a middle of the pack B1G team. JF is currently in his "prove it" years and if he doesn't soon start to produce better results he'll be gone before his contract expires.
I believe Penn St is one of the top 3 teams in the big 10. I give you Ohio St and Michigan the last 3 or 4 years but imo Michigan takes a big step back and it’s Penn St and Oregon who will be the 2 teams to step it up to elite level. Oregon ain’t been any better than Penn St the last few years and they played in the PAC 12 which was the worst conference. You have Oregon, USC and Washington the rest stunk and USC ain’t been nothing to brag about lately. Homer, Penn St is at the upper top of the big 10 Iowa is more in the middle. I do agree that James Franklin needs to make the playoffs or his seat will get hot but it’s not even warm right now.
I agree with Homer on the fact that the University isn't pumping hundreds of Millions of dollars into the facility upgrades that are necessary to compete in the current environment of big time college football to lose 2 or 3 games a year and go to a none factor bowl game...He is going to have to not only get to the playoffs but to win at least the first game if/when he gets there...I believe he is on the hot seat right now to make the playoffs and at least get a win...I disagree with Homer about the defense...I think this is going to be another dominant defensive unit and plenty good enough to get them to the playoffs and frankly deep into the playoffs if the Offense can do anything...I also agree with Homer regarding the offense...they need to be much better this season and control the ball more...less 3 and outs and they need to put up points...I am hopeful with this new OC but the big question is will he be allowed to implement his system or is Franklin going to interfere with the play calling? I believe time is indeed running out for Franklin unless he delivers some big wins this year...I think he MUST beat OSU this year or he may be gone...10 wins ain't gonna get it done with the amount of money they are pumping into the stadium and athletic facilities...
I don't question the new OC, I question wether or not Franklin will make him "establish the run" to a nonsensical degree.
We’ve gone to the Cotton bowl, fiesta bowl, Rose Bowl 2 times and the Peach Bowl which is all the top bowl games so it’s not like we’re not top tier team we just ain’t been good enough to beat Ohio St and Michigan. I do believe we need to win one of those games and it’s very disappointing that we haven’t the last few years. Fix the QB position and these problems go away.
@southern-psu-fan I think what you meant to say was “stop the stupid coaching decisions and these problems go away”.
None of those bowls mean anything in the era of the Playoff. They are participation trophies, nothing more. They used to mean something in the 90s, before the playoff. They are meaningless now, players even opt out of them.We’ve gone to the Cotton bowl, fiesta bowl, Rose Bowl 2 times and the Peach Bowl which is all the top bowl games so it’s not like we’re not top tier team we just ain’t been good enough to beat Ohio St and Michigan. I do believe we need to win one of those games and it’s very disappointing that we haven’t the last few years. Fix the QB position and these problems go away.
We are not a top tier team. There are teams that have gone to the Playoff, and there are teams who haven't. We are a team who hasn't... that's not top tier.
@psujoe what stupid coaching decisions? IMO we have to get better at QB and all our problems go away. Hopefully that happens this year. If we were playing like Florida, Tennessee or USC I would understand the criticism but that’s not the case. I do agree we need some big time wins but the team is a top tier program. I also believe Oregon is a top tier team too and they ain’t won anything more than we have playing in a garbage conference.
@southern-psu-fan "I do agree we need some big time wins but the team is a top tier program."
Top tier programs get big wins consistently, they don't need big wins.
We have never been to the playoff, that is not top tier. Top tier programs are in the playoff more often than not.
Alabama is top tier. Ohio State is top tier. Michigan is top tier now. Clemson was. Georgia is.
We aren't on that level. We have the potential to be on that level. There is a difference.
@roaminglion those are elite teams and there’s not many elite teams. I thought elite was higher than top tier. Maybe not lol. I was just thinking there’s about 5 or 6 elite teams and 10 to 15 top tier teams.
We’ve gone to the Cotton bowl, fiesta bowl, Rose Bowl 2 times and the Peach Bowl which is all the top bowl games so it’s not like we’re not top tier team we just ain’t been good enough to beat Ohio St and Michigan. I do believe we need to win one of those games and it’s very disappointing that we haven’t the last few years. Fix the QB position and these problems go away.
Utah, Oregon, Wash and Stanford have also been to the Rose Bowl recently. Does that mean they’re top tier too or is this one of your typical double standards?
And what about Wisconsin? Since we’ve been in the B1G they’ve been to the Rose Bowl 7 times to our 4. Does that mean Wisconsin is top tier ?
@psujoe we both know Wisconsin doesn’t recruit as well as Penn Stand neither does Washington, Utah or Stanford so I’d say no. It’s just my opinion though
So now you’re subtly admitting Oregon is higher than us in the SouthernPSUfan top tier ratings because they’ve been to the playoffs, have been to the Rose Bowl more often and also out recruit us?
I do believe you’re right about Oregon going forward because they have very deep pockets and they’ll be able to pay probably more money than any team out there.
