With Penn State winning and two teams ranked ahead of it losing, everybody knew PSU would move up in the rankings.
The question was, how far?
We found out in one poll early Sunday afternoon.
Penn State is ranked N0. 5 in the US LBM Coaches Poll.
PSU came into Saturday nightโs game needing an emphatic win and got it with a 35-6 shellacking of Washington in White Out conditions at Beaver Stadium. As a bonus, Miami, which has been ranked No. 4, lost at un-ranked Georgia Tech, and Georgia, which was ranked No. 2, lost at Ole Miss, which had been No. 12. Penn State doesnโt need to be in or near the top four to make it to the Playoff anymore but it doesnโt hurt.
A STATEMENT GAME
Photo by Matt Lynch, Nittany Sports Now: Penn State HC James Franklin
The bad taste Penn State fans have after losing to Ohio State for the 10th time in 11 tries under Coach James Franklin wonโt go away until the team beats somebody near that caliber, which 5-5 Washington isnโt. But Penn State did everything it needed to do and then some, playing the best first half it has all season. The offense scored touchdowns on each of its four possessions while the defense pitched a shutout.
If Penn State plays at the level it did Saturday night, it will be a hard team for anybody in the rankings to beat.
THE RANKINGS THAT COUNT
With all due respect to the Coaches and AP Pollsโ the latter of which comes out at 2 every Sundayโ the only rankings that matter as far as teamโs reaching their main goals goes are the College Football Playoff rankings. Penn State landed at No. 6 in the first batch, which came out last Tuesday, and figures to be higher than that in the second batch, which will be released this coming ย Tuesday.
Penn State will be in Indiana this weekend to take on 1-8 Purdue at 3:30 on CBS.
