The Penn State Nittany Lions are completely back on their feet after a horrible 2026, as they land on two post-spring top 25 rankings.
The Penn State Nittany Lions are completely and totally off the mat from what was a disaster of a season in 2025.
By now, you know the entire story of the season, but at the beginning of December, the Penn State program was a massive mountain to climb with seemingly no way to do it. They methodically chipped away at it day by day, and all of a sudden they are back to where they should be.
On Monday, two post-spring ball top-25 rankings were released, and the Nittany Lions were on both of them.
Getting through spring ball is a monumental time for a program. It marks the first hurdle of the offseason as teams and coaches prepare for the upcoming year. It is a time of the calendar when job players slot themselves and put themselves in a position to win or lose a job.
It's a massively stressful time for the individuals in the program, both players and coaches. After the dust settles and every team completes its spring session, of course, it is time to throw out the rankings.
On Monday, both Josh Pate and Joel Klatt released a top 25 ranking, and the Nittany Lions are squarely in the middle of both of them. Perfectly slotted in my opinion.
It would have been too much to put Penn State in the top `10, yet had they been left out, that would have been tough to argue.
Instead, they were ranked 15th and 17th respectively.
In Klatt's ranking, Penn State is the 15th-ranked team. They are behind teams like Michigan, Texas Tech, and Ole Miss while being in front of Alabama, BYU, and Washington.
On Pate's board, they check in behind Texas Tech, BYU, and Michigan while being in front of Houston and Utah.
Both of those spots are very fair for the Nittany Lions program that has its six-loss season in the rearview and is eyeing a return to the College Football Playoff. They are not going to be a top-tier program next year, but they are going to be competitive.
They will be comprised of a lot of former Iowa State Cyclones and then a bunch of young players trying to make their name and earn their place on the team.
Matt Campbell officially and successfully turned the Nittany Lions program around in just five short months.
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