Penn State is a national title contender with sky-high expectations in 2025. So it makes sense that the Nittany Lions have their highest preseason ranking this century.

Penn State is ranked No. 2 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll, which was released Monday. The Nittany Lions are ranked just below No. 1 Texas and above No. 3 Ohio State.

Penn State earned 23 first-place votes from the 65 AP voters. Texas had 25 first-place votes. Ohio State garnered 11, followed by Clemson with four and Georgia and Oregon with one each.

Texas (1,552) and Penn State (1,547) were separated by just five points. That’s the closest margin between the top two teams in the preseason AP poll since 1998.

The last time Penn State started a season in the top three nationally? 1999. It’s been a while si

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