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Penn State earns No. 2 ranking in AP preseason poll, its highest spot since 1997

Texas, which received the No. 1 spot in the Associated Press preseason top 25 for the first time, edged Penn State by just five points in the closest preseason vote since 1998.

Penn State quarterback Drew Allar and coach James Franklin open the season with the Nittany Lions ranked No. 2 in the country after the Associated Press preseason poll was released Monday.
Penn State quarterback Drew Allar and coach James Franklin open the season with the Nittany Lions ranked No. 2 in the country after the Associated Press preseason poll was released Monday. Read moreBarry Reeger / AP

For the first time, Texas will open a college football season ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press top 25.

But right behind the Longhorns is Penn State at No. 2, the program’s highest ranking since opening as the No. 1 team in the nation 28 years ago. It’s the first time in James Franklin’s 12 seasons as head coach that the program has been ranked this high.

The Longhorns edged Penn State by just five points in the media poll, the closest preseason vote since 1998.

Texas received 25 first-place votes and 1,552 points to give the Southeastern Conference the preseason No. 1 team for a record fifth straight year. The Nittany Lions got 23 first-place votes and 1,547 points for their highest preseason ranking since they were No. 1 to open the 1997 season.

Looking up at both is Penn State’s Big Ten rival Ohio State, which comes in at No. 3. The Buckeyes received 11 first-place votes from the panel of 65 media members who cover college football. No. 4 Clemson got four first-place votes and No. 5 Georgia got one.

The Big Ten, which has won the last two national championships, has two of the top three teams in the poll for the third straight year and six in the top 25 for the third year in a row.

Notre Dame, Oregon (which got the final first-place vote), Alabama, LSU, and Miami round out the top 10. In the case of the Fighting Irish, who edged the Nittany Lions in last season’s College Football Playoff semifinal, they enter the preseason top 10 for the third time in four years. The Fighting Irish will have a new quarterback, CJ Carr or Kenny Minchey. The two played a combined eight snaps last season as Notre Dame went all the way to the CFP title game won by Ohio State.

The SEC leads all conferences with 10 teams in the preseason top 25, the most ever by a conference and one more than a year ago. The SEC has four teams in the top 10 for the second straight year.

Penn State will have Drew Allar back under center for what many consider a light schedule ahead of a late September visit from Oregon before a Nov. 1 showdown at Ohio State.

Penn State will open its season on Aug. 30 at home against Nevada (3:30 p.m., CBS).