AP Poll voter explains why Penn State football should’ve been unranked

One AP Poll voter recently explained as to why he didn’t have Penn State football ranked in his Top-25 projections.

Preseason poll rankings are always bound to rile up fanbases across the NCAA. It truly never fails. Sometimes, we see teams that might be ranked too high, and the college football world throws a fit. Other times, there are fanbases of teams who get angry over their team getting snubbed.

This year, Penn State football fans don’t really have too much to complain about. Not right now they don’t at least. As the Nittany Lions turn a new page with a brand new quarterback, nobody is really aware of how they will play in 2019. Hence the reason why their spot in power rankings and preseason polls haven’t really been that high.

Regardless of the quarterback situation though, there still are tons of writers and publications who believe that Penn State deserves a spot in the Top-25 regardless of the change at quarterback or not. Some publications had the Lions as high as No. 11. Others had them as low as No. 16. The AP Poll, however, placed Penn State right in the middle at No. 15.

That’s not bad considering the unknown. But just because the 15th spot was the average amongst hundreds of voters, doesn’t necessarily mean everybody feels that strongly about the Lions. One writer, in fact, recently explained that he didn’t even place PSU in the Top-25.

Nittany Lions undeserving?

Recently, Matt de Bear of Roar Lions Roar reached out to a handful of AP Poll voters on their opinions of Penn State football. Two writers in particular actually had Penn State just creeping into the Top-25, barley making it onto their list. Meanwhile, San Jose Mercury News reporter, Jon Wilner mentioned that he didn’t even have PSU ranked.

“My preseason poll is a rough projection of how I think everything will shake out in the end, and I expect a handful of losses for Penn State,” Wilner said. He based it on “the combination of McSorley’s departure, the division, and the road schedule.”

There’s no denying that losing the All-Time passing leader after three highly-productive seasons can be significant. And obviously, we know Penn State’s back-end of the schedule is difficult. So Wilner isn’t totally off-base here. At some point though, the unknown at quarterback should be recognized as a possible strength for the Lions.

While McSorley was a proven talent, defense’s knew what they had to do to try and contain him after knowing his tendencies through film. Sean Clifford, or Will Levis on the other hand could be full of surprises in 2019, which could play into the Lions’ favor. We’ll see how it plays out in the next few months, though.