Did Penn State football move up in the AP top-25 rankings after win over Bowling Green?

Penn State kept its top-ten spot in the AP Top 25 poll after Saturday’s close, home-opener win against Bowling Green.

The Nittany Lions remain at No. 8 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 rankings, which were released Sunday afternoon. It comes after beating the Falcons, 34-27, on Saturday after a second-half turnaround at Beaver Stadium.

While Penn State didn’t change, there was plenty of movement elsewhere in the top 10. Notably, previously No. 5-ranked Notre Dame fell 13 spots to No. 18 after an upset loss to Northern Illinois, which moved into the No. 25 spot.

And Oregon dropped two spots to No. 9, making the Nittany Lions the second highest-ranked team in the Big Ten. Ohio State is above them at No. 3, switching spots with Texas, which came in at No. 2 after defeating Michigan, which fell out of the top 10.

After Oregon, there are three more Big Ten teams behind the Nittany Lions in the poll: USC (No. 11), Michigan (No. 17), and Nebraska (No. 23). Iowa dropped out of the poll and Illinois, which had a big win Saturday against Kansas, remains unranked but received the most votes among teams outside the top 25. The Nittany Lions face the Fighting Illini at Beaver Stadium on Sept. 28.

The Illini are joined by Washington, Iowa and Wisconsin as unranked Big Ten teams to receive votes.

The Nittany Lions are 17 voting points behind No. 7 Tennessee and 13 ahead of No. 9 Oregon.

After a bye this week, they’ll have a chance to move to 3-0 on Sept. 21 against Kent State at Beaver Stadium.

The full AP rankings are below.

AP Top 25

(Sept. 8, 2024)

1. Georgia (54 first-place votes) 1,566

2. Texas (Four first-place votes) 1,492

3. Ohio State (Five first-place votes) 1,476

4. Alabama 1,331

5. Ole Miss 1,323

6. Missouri 1,125

7. Tennessee 1,107

8. Penn State 1,090

9. Oregon 1,077

10. Miami 1,073

11. USC 1,022

12. Utah 1,010

13. Oklahoma State 734

14. Kansas State 702

15. Oklahoma 672

16. LSU 521

17. Michigan 503

18. Notre Dame 503

19. Louisville 383

20. Arizona 381

21. Iowa State 309

22. Clemson 292

23. Nebraska 142

24. Boston College 116

25. Northern Illinois 114

Others receiving votes: Illinois 101, Boise St. 77, Texas A&M 68, Syracuse 63, Memphis 38, Washington 27, Iowa 24, Kansas 22, Vanderbilt 18, South Carolina 10, Liberty 9, Wisconsin 9, UNLV 7, North Carolina 7, California 3, BYU 2, UCF 1, TCU 1.