Penn State Ranked No. 1 In B1G Media Polls

Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Big Ten Media Days are about to kick off today, and with a large majority of folks that cover the Big Ten teams in Chicago Indianapolis Detroit? Las Vegas, we got ourselves some informal media polls. As it turns out, the hype for Penn State football this offseason hasn’t subsided, with both of the major polls having the Nittany Lions ranked No. 1.

Here’s the Big Ten preseason media poll from @KOTNCFB 1. Penn State (35 first-place votes) 2. Ohio State (18) 3. Oregon (1) 4. Illinois 5. Michigan 6. Indiana

7. USC 8. Nebraska 9. Iowa 10. Washington 11. Minnesota 12. Wisconsin 13. Michigan State 14. UCLA 15. Rutgers 16.…

— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) July 21, 2025

.@clevelanddotcom Big Ten preseason media poll

1-Penn St (11 1st place votes)
2-Ohio St (10)
3-Oregon (2)
4-Illinois
5-Michigan (1)
6-Indiana
7-Iowa
8-Nebraska
9-USC
10-Washington
11-Minnesota
12-Wisconsin
13-Mich St
(tie) Rutgers
15-UCLA
16-Maryland
17-Northwestern
18-Purdue

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) July 21, 2025

Is this mostly meaningless? Sure. A preseason poll No. 1 ranking — whether it’s an informal Big Ten media poll or possibly the AP poll that will come out in a few weeks — isn’t going to win Penn State any games. I tweeted on the @BSDTweet account that this is some *Nick Saban voice* rat poison.

That being said, I think the makeup of this team is strong enough that whatever the preseason polls say won’t impact them. Looking at the seniors on this team — guys like Drew Allar, Nick Singleton, Dani Dennis-Sutton, etc. — and I think it’s a group that has accomplished a lot of awesome things at Penn State, but also realizes and sees the greater picture of what they want to accomplish.

So yeah, cool that Penn State gets some nice recognition. But like the Bulls in the 90s said: it don’t mean a thing without the ring. Fortunately, I think the team realizes that.

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