The final AP Poll of the 2024 college football season is out, and despite advancing further in the College Football Playoff than Oregon, Penn State finished behind the Ducks in this ranking.
Penn State ended at No. 5 behind national champion Ohio State, runner-up Notre Dame, Oregon, which lost in the quarterfinal, and Texas.
PSU lost to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl/College Football Playoff semifinal.
Penn State Drops Orange Bowl to Notre Dame in Heartbreaking Fashion
Texas lost to Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl, and since Penn State and Texas each finished 13-3, Texas got the nod for losing to the champ as opposed to the runner-up. In any case, this is the first time Penn State finished in the top five since after the 2005 season. Things were much different back then.
THE LAST TIME
08 October 2011: Penn State Nittany Lions head coach Joe Paterno answers questions from the media following a game against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Beaver Stadium in University Park, PA. The Penn State Nittany Lions would defeat the Iowa Hawkeyes 13-3.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.The last time Penn State finished in the top five, the world was a different place. George W. Bush was president. The iPhone was still more than a year away, and The Office had just been launched. The college football world was different, too. The BCS was still the law of the land. There was no College Football Playoff, so by finishing No. 3, Penn State had to play in the Orange Bowl with no national title hopes in sight. This season, Penn State made the Playoff and came within two games of winning the whole thing.
WHAT ABOUT NEXT SEASON?
Photo by Matt Lynch, Nittany Sports Now
So where will Penn State be in next season’s final ranking? Well, considering the team is bringing back stars such as Drew Allar, Nicholas Singleton, Kaytron Allen, Dani Dennis-Sutton and Zane Durant, there’s no reason to think PSU won’t be a national title contender again in 2025.
PSU opens the season against Nevada Aug. 30 at Beaver Stadium.
