Penn State received a favorable placement in the Big Ten’s unofficial preseason poll for the 2024 season.
The Nittany Lions landed third in the conference, according to a poll conducted by cleveland.com on Thursday. They fell behind landslide Big Ten favorite Ohio State (21 first-place votes) and newcomer Oregon in second (six first-place votes). Penn State, with a 3.52 average ranking, did not receive a first-place vote and narrowly edged fourth-place Michigan’s 3.78 average position.
The Big Ten did away with official preseason polls before the 2011 season, while cleveland.com has picked up the slack with an unofficial poll ever since. Beat writers from around the conference and a few national reporters were among the 26 total voters this year.
Penn State will have a chance to prove any doubters wrong with its Nov. 2 tilt with Ohio State at Beaver Stadium, announced as the team’s third annual Helmet Stripe game. The Lions do not play Oregon in the regular season, but they have an overall favorable schedule in the first rendition of an expanded, 18-team Big Ten.
As for the poll’s outlook on the new 12-team College Football Playoff, 18 ballots included Penn State in the field. All 26 expected Ohio State to make it, while 25 anticipated Oregon receiving a berth.
Penn State has never been picked as the favorite in cleveland.com’s 14 years of the poll, but the Nittany Lions did win the conference in 2016. Take this poll with a grain of salt, as it has only accurately predicted the conference champion four times.
Here’s the full poll:
1. Ohio State Buckeyes
2. Oregon Ducks
3. Penn State Nittany Lions
4. Michigan Wolverines
5. Iowa Hawkeyes
6. USC Trojans
7. Wisconsin Badgers
8. Nebraska Cornhuskers
9. Rutgers Scarlet Knights
10. Washington Huskies
11. Maryland Terrapins
12. Minnesota Golden Gophers
13. Illinois Fighting Illini
14. Northwestern Wildcats
15. UCLA Bruins
16. Michigan State Spartans
17. Indiana Hoosiers
18. Purdue Boilermakers
