USA TODAY's Paul Myerberg released his college football re-rank of each Division I FBS program across the country 1 through 136. The original top 10 teams of the Top 25 Coaches Poll from Aug. 4 were scattered differently in the updated re-rank, including Penn State football. The Nittany Lions earned a two-spot boost from where they were initially placed in the poll.
That poll featured Texas in the No. 1 spot followed by Ohio State, Penn State, Georgia, and Notre Dame. Now, Myerberg's re-rank threw the Nittany Lions right on top ahead of the Longhorns and Buckeyes. In fact, he pushed the original No. 1 and No. 2 down to No. 4 and No. 6, respectively.
"At this point, the Nittany Lions are more of a sure thing than Ohio State, which has a new quarterback, a new backfield, a largely remade defensive front seven and new coordinators on offense and defense," Myerberg wrote.
The debate between Penn State and Ohio State topping the Big Ten is ongoing and will be until at least Week 5. Head coach James Franklin's team won't start conference play until meeting Oregon at Beaver Stadium on Sept. 27.
The Buckeyes start the season off strong against Texas in Week 1, but even if they lose to the Longhorns, they'll have Illinois, Penn State, and Michigan to redeem themselves. The Nittany Lions, on the other hand, don't have a grace game to lose. After an easy three non-conference game slate to open the season, they face Oregon, Ohio State, and Indiana as their only AP Top 25 opponents as of the preseason ranking.
Week 10 when the Franklin and Ryan Day meet will foreshadow what lies ahead of both teams' postseason runs. Penn State and Ohio State each have a bye week before Franklin's team heads to Columbus. The Nittany Lions will face an all-stadium black out.
At the moment, Penn State isn't favored to win the game nor the Big Ten. CBS Sports' Brad Crawford already made his claim that Week 10 will bring the Nittany Lions' first loss of the season, and FanDuel currently has Ohio State winning the conference.
The re-ranked top 25 teams on Myerberg's list here: