Penn State ranks highly in ESPN's final presason SP+ ranking
It’s been 233 days since Penn State faced Arkansas in what turned out to be the final Outback Bowl. With six players opting out of the game, including wide receiver Jahan Dotson and safety Jaquan Brisker, it was always going to be an uphill climb against a Razorback squad that hadn’t played in a New Year’s Day Bowl in quite some time.
But last year is last year, and that’s what we love about college football. With seven returning starters on offense, including sixth-year quarterback Sean Clifford, there’s plenty of reason to believe that the Lions should take the next step in 2022. Defensively, Penn State brings back just four returning starters, although they do return 18 lettermen on that side of the ball, so there’s no shortage of experience.
Those factors, along with how well Penn State has recruited in recent years, are a big reason why the Nittany Lions rank as high as they do in Bill Connelly’s final preseason SP+ ranking, which was released on ESPN.com Sunday morning.
Where Things Stand: A comprehensive Penn State preseason rundown
Although they missed out on the top 25 in both the Associated Press and Coaches Polls, Penn State is held in much higher regard in Connelly’s power rankings, sitting at No. 13 overall in the nation. That’s the same position they ranked back in May’s release following spring practice.
“James Franklin’s Nittany Lions are 13th in SP+ but came in just 29th in the AP poll,” Connelly wrote. “I don’t think anyone will be too surprised if quarterback Sean Clifford stays healthy and PSU is indeed a top-15 team again, as it was for three of four years from 2016 through 2019.”
Penn State’s season-opening opponent, Purdue, sits at No. 34 in the power ranking. That game is set to take place next Thursday, Sept. 1, at Ross-Ade Stadium. The game will be broadcasted on FOX at 8 p.m. eastern time.
Overall, Penn State will face six teams who rank in the top 50. The other five schools are Ohio State (No. 3), Michigan (No. 6), Michigan State (No. 15), Auburn (No. 21) and Minnesota (No. 31).
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Related: Projecting PSU’s defensive depth chart heading into Week One
Nationally, you won’t find too many surprises among the top eight or so, with Alabama and Georgia sitting at No. 1 and 2, respectively. In addition to the Buckeyes and Wolverines, the other schools are Oklahoma (No. 4), Clemson, (No. 5), Notre Dame (No. 7) and Texas A&M (No. 8).
However, Ole Miss (No. 9) and Tennessee (No. 10) round out the top 10. The Volunteers aren’t ranked in either of the two major polls, while Lane Kiffin’s Rebels just barely cracked the polls, sitting at No. 21 in the Coaches Poll and No. 24 in the AP Top 25.
For those unfamiliar with the SP+ rankings, they’re primarily based on returning production, recent recruiting and recent history.
“SP+ is a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency,” wrote Connelly. “It is a predictive measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football, not a résumé ranking, and, along those same lines, these projections aren’t intended to be a guess at what the AP Top 25 will look like at the end of the year. These are simply early offseason power rankings based on the information we have been able to gather to date.”
