Penn State is back in to the top 10 of the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll after pulling away for a lopsided win on the road at Rutgers and with two teams ranked ahead of them losing in Week 12. If the coaches poll is any indication, the Nittany Lions could be in a decent spot to slide into a New Years Six bowl game.
Penn State moved up to No. 10 in this week’s USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, moving up two spots from last week’s poll that had Penn State at No. 12. Penn State took advantage of losses by No. 11 Tennessee (down six spots) and No. 14 Utah (down four) this weekend. Tennessee was blown out on the road by South Carolina, giving up 63 points in the playoff-busting loss for the Vols. Utah came up short on the road in a close battle at Oregon. Oregon moved up four spots with the win, sliding in one spot ahead of Penn State in the coaches poll at No. 9.
Georgia remains the runaway No. 1 team in the nation with 59 first-place votes in their favor after their road win at Kentucky in Week 12. The defending national champions are followed by the Big Ten’s top two heavyweights, No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Michigan. Michigan actually has one more first-place vote than Ohio State (2-1 advantage) despite Ohio State being ranked ahead of the Wolverines. Ohio State and Michigan will face each other this weekend in the Big Ten regular-season finale to determine which team will play for the Big Ten championship.
Although the Big Ten now has three teams ranked in the top 10 of the coaches poll, that is all the Big Ten has to represent itself in the updated poll this week. Iowa, Illinois, and Purdue are all in the others receiving votes category.
Here is this week’s full USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll following the results of Week 12.
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