Post Spring Practice: Will Penn State Football be Ranked?

Spring practice has come to an end and now the question about whether Penn State Football is a top 25 team or not arises. 

Penn State Football has been in the Associated Press preseason top 25 every season since 2017, but will they be in 2022?

The Nittany Lions started the 2021 season 5-0 and reached the No. 4 ranking in the country. They went on to lose six of their last eight games (including the Outback Bowl) to finish the season unranked.

It was the second straight year that Penn State started the year ranked, only to finish the season on the outside looking in.

Had starting quarterback Sean Clifford not suffered an injury that forced him to leave the Iowa game, and limited his mobility the rest of the season, it’s quite possible (actually incredibly likely) that Penn State would have finished the 2021 season ranked.

With the Spring practice period over for college football, experts have started to release top 25 preseason predictions for this upcoming season.

Some, like RJ Young of Fox Sports, have Penn State in their top 25, while others, like Brad Crawford of 247 Sports, do not.

There is an argument to made for both opinions, so let’s put ourselves in the mind of an AP Poll voter and dive into why Penn State should be a preseason top 25 team, and why they shouldn’t be.