The preseason rankings from various outlets have begun making the rounds. We have seen where Penn State and some of their opponents in 2021 stack up in the preseason top 25 rankings from Sporting News and Athlon Sports. Joining the fun this week was Pro Football Focus, which used its system metrics and simulations to rank all 130 FBS programs for the upcoming season.
Penn State ranked No. 19 in the preseason ranking from PFF. Judging by these initial rankings, Penn State will have some challenging games on its 2021 schedule. That much we already knew with road games at Wisconsin and Iowa, not to mention Ohio State, and home games against Auburn, Indiana, and Michigan. All six of those opponents appear in the PFF top 25.
PFF only provided national championship and conference championship probabilities for the top 25 teams in their ranking. That information, where applicable, is included below. Also of note, Penn State’s Week 4 opponent, Villanova, did not receive a grade as they are an FCS program.