Thoughts on Penn State Football being unranked in the AP Poll

Penn State football will enter the 2022 season outside of the top 25 in the AP Poll. 

The AP Poll dropped its preseason rankings for the 2022 college football season and Penn State football was not included.

This marks the first time since the 2016 season that Penn State will go into a season unranked.

The Nittany Lions started the 2021 season 5-0, but an injury to quarterback Sean Clifford was a big reason why the team dropped five of their last seven regular season games. After a loss to Arkansas in the Outback Bowl, Penn State finished the year 7-6.

While Penn State was far more talented than the average 7-6 team, the key injuries derailed what looked like a promising season.

Clifford returning to Penn State certainly helped the case to rank the Nittany Lions, but losing star wide receiver Jahan Dotson, along with six keys members of one of the best defenses in the nation, will be tough to replace.

The Nittany Lions countered the losses by bringing in three key transfers and the No. 7 recruiting class in the country. This is one of James Franklin’s most talented rosters at Penn State.

Should the Nittany Lions have been ranked?

There was definitely an argument to rank Penn State, but 7-6 was probably hard for some voters to ignore.

The voters are still high on the Nittany Lions though, as they received 160 votes, good enough for the No. 29 spot. Meaning, if Penn State takes cares of business in week one against Purdue, the team should slip into the top 25.

That seems like a fair ranking. Let the team prove it on the field for a couple weeks and then they will earn the right to be ranked.

If there is a silver lining to this, it’s that going into a night game at Purdue unranked might not be a bad thing.

Purdue is notorious for upsetting ranked teams, usually at home. On the other hand, they seem to struggle with teams that aren’t ranked. Playing as the underdog seems to help Purdue, but they will not be looked at as a major underdog in this matchup.

Additionally, as mentioned earlier, Penn State will enter the season unranked for the first time since 2016. We all know how the 2016 season ended for the Nittany Lions.