Poll Watching: How many teams ranked ahead of Penn State lost in Week 2?
Week 2 of the college football season was kind to Penn State with a comfortable victory against Ball State. But how many teams ranked ahead of the Nittany Lions took a loss? Not as many last week, of course, after Penn State made a nice jump up in the rankings this week. But there were easily some big developments to be aware of.
One of the biggest stories of the day took place right in the Big Ten with Ohio State getting upset at home by the Oregon Ducks. The result of the game means nothing as far as the Big Ten championship picture right now, and the fallout doesn’t figure to be one that will help Penn State’s position in the rankings either. While the Buckeyes will drop a few spots, Penn State will be unable to make up any ground on Oregon. The USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll had Oregon ranked No. 11 going into the week, two spots ahead of Penn State. And like Clemson’s loss a week ago, Ohio State’s loss very likely won’t be costly enough to drop the Buckeyes behind Penn State.
But Penn State will be assured of moving ahead of at least one team this week.
Knowing that Iowa and Iowa State were each just ahead of the Nittany Lions and facing each other in their in-state rivalry game, Penn State was guaranteed to move up at least one spot as long as it avoided a disaster against Ball State (which it did). In the coaches poll, Iowa State entered the week ranked No. 10 and the Hawkeeyswere at No. 12. With Iowa winning by a score of 27-17, the Hawkeyes will stay ahead of Penn State, and may even create a slight bit of separation as the poll shakes out a bit. Expect the Cyclones to drop behind Penn State in the coaches poll as a result. Penn State should move ahead of Iowa State in the AP Top 25 as well (Iowa State, Iowa, and Penn State were ranked 9, 10, and 11 respectively in the last AP poll).
No school ranked behind Penn State looks like it will be in a position to make any argument to jump ahead of Penn State this week, other than Oregon in the AP poll. So the other question this week will be how much stock is there in Notre Dame after Week 2?
Next: Could Penn State jump Notre Dame?
While it may be difficult to envision Penn State leaping ahead of Notre Dame in the coaches poll, it may be more likely to go down in the AP poll. Notre Dame started the weekend ranked No. 7 in the USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll, a solid six spots ahead of the Nittany Lions. The Fighting Irish are only three spots ahead of Penn State in the AP Top 25. But after narrowly escaping an upset bid at home by Toledo and seeing Week 1 opponent get stunned at home by FCS Jacksonville State, it may be fair to suggest Notre Dame’s ranking is not warranted.
This is not at all to say Notre Dame is or will be a bad team this year. But the evidence is not currently there to justify a top 10 ranking compared to other developments early on across the country through the first two full weekends of college football. Penn State has a top 25 win and covered a more than three-touchdown spread against the defending MAC champions while the Irish had to benefit from a complete meltdown in the final 90 seconds by Toledo to wiggle its way to a 2-0 record six days after an overtime victory at Florida State.
It probably won’t happen, but the case can be made for Penn State moving ahead of Notre Dame. Texas A&M had a shaky outing with a quarterback injury at Colorado, but the No. 5 Aggies should stay comfortable ahead of Penn State no matter how the polls are altered this week.
Penn State could be a top 10 team in both polls heading into Week 3, but Oregon’s upset at Ohio State threw a bit of a curveball at that outlook. Now it is up to the voters.
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