Penn State football labeled ‘overrated’ in preseason poll

The Amway Coaches preseason poll recently surfaced the net, and Penn State football was ranked at No. 14.

Training camp is here for the Penn State football team, so you know what that means — it’s time to start checking out some early polls to see where PSU could potentially rank heading into the year. As always, USA Today Sports had a number of random anonymous head coaches come together as a panel and put together the Top-25 teams within the NCAA.

To no surprise, Clemson, Alabama, Georgia, and Oklahoma topped the list as the four best for now. Where do the Nittany Lions rank though? As of now, the Nittany Lions aren’t viewed as a top-ten team, which is understandable. They ended up at No. 14 on the list with 699 points.

For the Big Ten, Penn State is ranked third. Ahead of them are the obvious choices, Ohio State (No. 5) and Michigan (No. 7). Right now, it’s hard to disagree with the fact that Penn State sits behind those two teams. As the Lions have some uncertainties on their squad for the 2019 NCAA season, it’s kind of hard to guess just how successful they will be this season.

At this point, we could probably say that No. 14 is a fair assessment. However, not everybody would agree. Not too long after the poll made its way onto the internet, USA Today’s Paul Myerberg went ahead and put together a list of teams who are overrated on the poll. And surprisingly, Penn State made the cut on that list following No. 11’s Texas A&M.

Why is Penn State considered overrated?

"“That Penn State stands a distance behind No. 5 Ohio State and No. 7 Michigan reflects the perceived gap between the Big Ten’s two unquestioned favorites and the second tier of the East Division. However, given the team’s general concerns — the overall lack of experience and question marks at the skill positions — the Nittany Lions’ preseason ranking represents the sort of benefit of the doubt previously not afforded to James Franklin and his staff. Nonetheless, it would take at least nine regular-season wins and a high-profile victory to justify a spot at No. 14.”"

We know Penn State’s struggles against their stronger opponents over time. That’s been perhaps the most significant criticism for head coach James Franklin, outside of the fact that he’s had trouble holding onto higher recruits as well. This year, Penn State is heading into a different era. While their defense is clearly the proven strength of the team right now — the offense is easily the biggest question mark on the team without Trace McSorley in the picture.

Can Sean Clifford fill the large shoes he’s got to try on this season? We genuinely don’t know. As Clifford only has a few career passes, it’s unclear whether he’s destined to be the real deal or not. And this year, it’s not like the Lions can fall back on their backfield all of the time because that’s an unproven position as of now as well. Maybe calling the Lions overrated is a bit of a stretch, but the apparent concerns are not too far fetched.