It is not too often a team will move down after winning a game, but that is exactly what happened to Penn State in the updated AP Top 25. The Associated Press released its post-Week 10 ranking Sunday afternoon, and it saw Penn State fall from No. 22 a week ago to No. 23 in the latest reshuffling of the college football ranking.
Despite having identical 6-3 records, Penn State is now ranked lower than two teams it has defeated in head-to-head matchups this season. No. 20 Wisconsin made a big jump up this week after a blowout victory at Rutgers to move three spots ahead of the Nittany Lions. Wisconsin was not ranked a week ago. Perhaps Wisconsin’s ranking is inflated by Purdue’s victories over Iowa and Michigan State (Wisconsin handled Purdue head-to-head fairly easily in between Purdue’s big wins).
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No. 16 Auburn also remained ahead of Penn State after dropping four spots in this week’s ranking. Auburn was dominated by Texas A&M to fall to 6-3 on the season.
Penn State and Wisconsin are two of the Big Ten’s six ranked teams this week. No. 6 Ohio State stayed put, but No. 5 Oregon managed to be moved back ahead of the Buckeyes after moving up two spots this week. Oregon did win a head-to-head matchup in Week 2 in Columbus, but Ohio State has arguably been playing better than the Ducks overall since.
No. 8 Michigan State dropped just three spots after their upset loss to Purdue, which is good enough to keep them ahead of No. 9 Michigan. The Wolverines held their same ranking from a week ago.
No. 19 Iowa is the only other Big Ten team in the AP Top 25 this week. The Hawkeyes stayed at No. 19 form a week ago.
Here is the full Ap Top 25, as of November 7, 2021…
- Georgia (63 first-place votes)
- Cincinnati
- Alabama
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Ohio State
- Notre Dame
- Michigan State
- Michigan
- Oklahoma State
- Texas A&M
- Ole Miss
- Wake Forest
- BYU
- UTSA
- Auburn
- Houston
- Baylor
- Iowa
- Wisconsin
- North Carolina State
- Coastal Carolina
- Penn State
- Louisiana-Lafayette
- Pittsburgh
Others receiving votes: Purdue, Arkansas, San Diego State, Utah, Iowa State, Kentucky, Appalachian State, SMU, Mississippi State
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