Penn State had their highest final top 25 ranking in the James Franklin era following a College Football Playoff run that concluded in the national quarterfinals. The Nittany Lions finished the 2024 season ranked fifth in the USA Today Coaches Poll and the Associated Press top 25.
Franklin, however, had a higher opinion of the Nittany Lions.
The voting contingent for the weekly USA Today Coaches Poll consists of 53 college football head coaches, including Franklin. He previously clarified that he doesn’t perform all of the leg work alone, as was to be expected. However, like the other fifty-two coaches, his name appears on the vote.
Franklin placed Penn State as the fourth-best squad in the nation, per USA Today. Ohio State, Notre Dame, Oregon, Penn State, and Texas were his top five choices.
Penn State came in second to Texas in the overall polls.The Nittany Lions were ranked as high as No. 3 by several AP coaches and voters. Alex Golesh, the coach of South Florida, had the lowest ranking of all Nittany Lions, placing them seventh, behind Georgia (sixth) and Arizona State (fifth).
Here is a ranking of Penn State by a few different coaches.
Spencer Danielson of Boise State: No. 3
Ryan Day of Ohio State: No. 4
Marcus Freeman of Notre Dame: No. 4
Dan Lanning of Oregon: No. 5
Jeff Monken of the Army: No. 6
Mike Locksley of Maryland: No. 6
Pat Narduzzi of Pitt: No. 6
Those who are familiar with Franklin’s past with Narduzzi and Locksley won’t be surprised by the last two.
Here is a complete list of Franklin’s top 25.
1. The University of Ohio
2. The University of Notre Dame
3. The state of Oregon
4. The University of Pennsylvania
5. The state of Texas
6. Georgia
7. The state of Indiana
8. Arizona State
9. Tennessee
10. The State of Boise
11. Ole Miss
12. BYU
13. SMU
14. The state of Illinois
15. The state of South Carolina
16. The Clemson
17. Iowa State
18. The state of Alabama
19. Miami, Florida
20. Missouri
21. The Army
22. Syracuse
23. Memphis
24. Colorado
25. UNLV
And this is Franklin from back in October, outlining his voting procedure: Basically, I believe that Sunday mornings must be in by 12:00. We used to have Michael Hazel put this together. That’s what Will Ryman does now. He assembles it for us. Usually, we start with last week’s Coaches Poll, followed by the AP Poll. To tell the truth, they are generally constantly rather consistent. After considering that, I look at who should drop out of the top 25 or enter the top 25 based on the prior weeks, as well as who won and who lost that week and were in the top 25.
For the most part, it’s quite comparable to what you see out there in public, but I’m also a strong supporter of the power conferences based only on the competition they play every week and the difficulties that accompany it. Our poll, which we release every week, and the Coaches Poll and the AP poll differ very little.
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Johnny McGonigal