PSU Football
News & Information
News—August 17, 2026
Penn State Ranked in AP Pre-Season Poll 2026
The 2026 Pre-Season Associated Press Poll was released on August 17th, and Penn State is ranked #18. It’s the first ranking of Penn State in the AP Poll since the Nittany Lions were ranked #7 just ahead of the 2025 game five loss at UCLA which knocked them out of the poll for the remainder of the season. PSU was ranked as high as #14 on some ballots and was left off the ballot of a Virginia Tech voter. This is the 4th consecutive season in which the Lions have been ranked in the AP Pre-Season Poll and the 9th time in the last 10 seasons.
Other 2026 Pre-Season AP Poll rankings of note: #1 Ohio State, #2 Oregon, #6 Indiana, #14 (tied) USC, #16 Michigan, #17 Washington, & #22 Iowa. Also getting votes for the poll: Illinois is projected as #33, Virginia Tech (James Franklin) is projected #37, and Minnesota is #38. PSU is scheduled to play vs. USC (probable Whiteout Game), at Michigan, and at Washington this season.
Penn State Ranked #17 in Pre-Season Coaches Poll (Aug. 4)
The 2026 Pre-Season US LBM Coaches Poll was released on August 4th by USA Today, and Penn State is ranked #17. It’s the first ranking of the Nittany Lions in any major poll since being ranked #22 by the Coaches ahead of the 2025 game 6 loss to Northwestern (the final game under head coach James Franklin).
Other 2026 Pre-Season Coaches Poll rankings of note: #1 Ohio State, #2 Oregon, #6 Indiana, #14 USC, #16 Michigan, #19 Washington, & #22 Iowa. PSU is scheduled to play USC, Michigan, and Washington this season. This is the first year since 2012 in which PSU is not scheduled to play a team ranked in the pre-season Top Ten by the Coaches (this has a lot to do with the absence of Ohio State from PSU’s conference slate for the first time ever).
Note on the 2026 US LBM Poll Board of Coaches: Former PSU coaches James Franklin of Virginia Tech, Ricky Rahne of ODU, Manny Diaz of Duke, & Charles Huff of Memphis have votes as do all 3 of the non-conference coaches who will face PSU this fall (Marshall, Temple, & Buffalo). Big Ten Head Coaches at Ohio State, Purdue, Nebraska, Michigan, Washington, Northwestern, & Indiana also have votes—Penn State Head Coach Matt Campbell does not participate in the voting.
August 5th—PSU announced that Sept. 5 season opener vs. Marshall will be the Stripe Out Game (see link).
