Penn State started the season ranked No. 7 in the AP poll, and through three weeks, it hasn’t moved yet.
In the latest AP Poll and USA Today Coaches Poll, Penn State is still No. 7 and still the third-highest-ranked Big Ten team behind Michigan and Ohio State.
Michigan (No. 2) and Ohio State (No. 6) also kept their ranking.
Penn State’s two biggest games are against Ohio State and Michigan. Coach James Franklin’s team will be in Columbus Oct. 21 to take on Ohio State and hosting Michigan at Beaver Stadium three weeks later. The Michigan game is slated to be Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff game of the week. No time or channel has been announced for the Ohio State game yet.
Penn State’s 30-13 win over Illinois Saturday wasn’t perfect, and coach James Franklin knows that.
At the same time, Franklin’s always appreciated how difficult it is to win by any margin in college football.
“That was a pretty Big Ten win on the road,” Franklin told reporters in his postgame presser. “I appreciate winning. It’s hard to do. You watch college football, each week, there’s games where there’s upsets, and games where you have to grind it out. So that was a big-time win for us on the road, especially when you kind of take all that factors that we look at into it.”
Franklin also noted that, despite the offense receiving criticism for its play, Drew Allar and company not turning it over was a key point in the win.
“Everybody’s going to talk about the five turnovers, and then deservedly so, they should be,” Franklin said, “but then the other thing is our offense not turning the ball over as well. You do those things, you’re going to win a lot of games. Those things obviously have a huge impact.”
Penn State’s next Big Ten test is against Iowa Saturday at Beaver Stadium. The annual White Out game is scheduled for 7:30.
