Penn State Football: tracking where the Nittany Lions fall in some 2022 preseason rankings

Coming off a roller coaster of a season, it is difficult to decide where exactly Penn State Football might fall in the rankings to begin the 2022 campaign.

On offense, the Nittany Lions retain their starting quarterback, their leading rusher, all of their tight ends, two of three starting wideouts, two of five starting linemen, and their offensive coordinator. The only major loss on that side of the ball is obviously Jahan Dotson, but Parker Washington seems more than capable of filling those big shoes.

Defensively, Penn State lost six of their 11 starters (seven if you count Jesse Luketa), and also welcome Manny Diaz as the new defensive coordinator.

Typically, losing your best offensive player and numerous outstanding defensive players from a team that only went 7-6 isn’t exactly a recipe to be ranked in the preseason top 25. However, numerous platforms have Penn State Football slated as a top 25 team heading into 2022.

Let’s take a look at them.

Athlon Sports: 25

CBS Sports: 31*

USA Today: 20

ESPN’s FPI: 12

Overall, the consensus seems to be that Penn State Football is a fringe top 25 team at this point, with Athlon Sports having the Nittany Lions just barely getting in, and USA Today having them not much higher at No. 20.

While it isn’t the traditional 25 team rankings, CBS having Penn State at No. 31 is another example of the Nittany Lions being looked at as a borderline top 25 team – on the outside looking in, but within striking distance.

ESPN’s FPI (Football Power Index) is not a human-produced ranking, but rather one that is produced by a complex computer algorithm that acts as a “predictive rating system” to measure a team’s strength. Cleary, FPI seems to have higher expectations for this year’s squad than most fans probably do.

For the most part, most platforms and people would probably have the Nittany Lions ranked anywhere in the 20-30 range (if rankings went to 30).

As always, the 2022 team will have a high ceiling that could see them become a top 15 team, or maybe even a top 10 team, but they need to be able to play to their potential on a weekly basis for that to happen.

The question remains, will Penn State be ranked in the AP and Coaches’ Polls once the season kicks off? The AP Poll will be the “important” poll for the first couple months of the season until the first College Football Playoff ranking is released in November.

If they’re not ranked in the top 25 for their week one trip to Purdue, they’ll almost certainly be among the “others receiving votes” category.

Regardless, the Nittany Lions will be in complete control of their own destiny (as everyone is to begin the season) and could simply (not necessarily easily) play their way into the top 25 with a couple wins to start the season.