EA Sports College Football 26 is scheduled to release on Thursday, July 10. Rankings of all different features of the video game are slowly unveiling ahead of the date. Penn State has been a recurring team featured from top players to "Stadium Pulse."
A.J. Harris (91), Vega Ioane (92), Dani-Dennis Sutton (92), Kaytron Allen (92), Drew Allar (92), and Nicholas Singleton (93) all made CFB 26's current Top 100 Players list. Beaver Stadium was also ranked the second in this edition's Top 25 Toughest Places to Play. It fell just behind the SEC's LSU Tigers.
EA Sports now revealed its Team Rankings. It should be expected that the Nittany Lions made the Top 25 lists for offense, defense, and overall rankings, but CFB 26 confirmed in on Friday, June 27.
Penn State football makes CFB 26's Top 25 Offense Team Rankings
CFB 26 gave four schools a 91 overall offensive rating, Penn State being one of them. The Nittany Lions placed second on this list with Texas taking the No. 1 spot. Ohio State and Arizona, third and fourth, respectively, were the other two schools rated 91 overall. The Nittany Lions were 12th in CFB 25 with an 87 overall offensive rating.
Ahead of the 2025-26 season, though, Penn State has a huge group of returners to bump this rank up as much as it did. Quarterback Drew Allar, running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen, and a slew of transfers to enhance the wide receiver corps is a powerhouse to not have ranked in the top three.
Penn State football makes CFB 26's Top 25 Defense Team Rankings
Defensively, CFB 26 placed the Nittany Lions third with a 94 overall rating. Alabama led this list with a 96 rating and Texas followed second with a 94 rating. CFB 25 rated Penn State's defense 88 overall, leaving it in ninth place to start.
Defensive tackle Zane Durant is definitely the leading factor for Penn State's high ranking, and he also received an 83 overall player rating. Durant is included in CFB 26's top-prospect pack for players who pre-ordered the video game. SMU's Isaiah Nwokobia is the only other defensive player in this pack, who is also rated 83 overall player.
Penn State football makes CFB 26's Top 25 Overall Team Rankings
The Nittany Lions ranked into the top five teams, landing at No. 4 with an 88 rating overall. The only schools to beat Penn State were Alabama (No. 1), Texas (No. 2), and Ohio State (No. 3).
Though the Nittany Lions were in ninth place overall in CFB 25, they were still rated 88 overall. They were ranked the highest of this cluster above six other teams. No school's rating in this edition, though, broke into the 90s.
There has been some controversy with putting the Crimson Tide at No. 1, especially being rated the highest at 89 overall compared to reigning College Football Playoff champion Ohio State. Ranks two through eight were all rated 88 overall, which also included No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 6 Georgia, No. 7 Clemson, and No. 8 Texas A&M.
It's also interesting to consider that the Longhorns were the only team to be ranked above the Nittany Lions in the offense and defense lists. The Buckeyes, though ranked one place above in the overall list were No. 3 and No. 5 offensively and defensively, respectively. Alabama was also rated over the Nittany Lions on defense. Though it earned a 96 defensive rating, its No. 7 offense doesn't have an equal impact on the overall rating.
Considering Ohio State is the reigning CFP champion, though, it's petty to argue for Penn State to be bumped up one single spot while its already a top five team. Alabama as No. 1 is such a left-field pick that by default the Nittany Lions should be the No. 3 team with Texas and Ohio State above them.