This week’s national polls saw a major shakeup after Alabama lost to Vanderbilt, Michigan lost to Washington, Arkansas defeated Tennessee and Missouri was blown out by Texas A&M. Texas remained the No. 1 team in the US LBM Coaches Poll while taking over the top spot in the AP Top 25 Poll. Penn State is now No. 4 in the AP Poll and No. 5 in the coaches poll.
USA TODAY’s updated 1-134 power rankings were released on Monday, with many changes among the top 25 teams. Texas took the top spot after the Crimson Tide’s loss, with Alabama falling to No. 9. Penn State and Oregon each moved up three spots to No. 3 and No. 4, respectively. The Nittany Lions remain the third-highest-ranked Big Ten team behind the Ducks and Ohio State.
Missouri dropped to No. 24 after getting demolished by the Aggies and were the biggest fallers in the top 25. Michigan fell 12 places to No. 25 after losing on the road at Washington. Penn State’s Week 6 opponent, the USC Trojans, dropped ten spots to No. 31 after falling to Minnesota.
Vanderbilt and Syracuse are two of the biggest risers this week, with the Orange moving up 19 spots and Vanderbilt moving up 34 spots after beating an AP top-five team for the first time.
This week, Penn State will travel to Los Angeles for its first matchup against one of the four expanded Big Ten programs. A win would be huge for the Nittany Lions, who are heading into a bye week.