Penn State football continued its arduous path of consistency with another win on Saturday afternoon. The Nittany Lions defeated UCLA 27-11 at Beaver Stadium to improve to 5-0 for the 2024 season heading into next weekend’s game at Southern California.

In doing so, Penn State did what much of the rest of the national college football rankings could not.

Of the 18 teams that played over the weekend, the Nittany Lions managed to avoid losing seven. No. 1 Alabama, No. 4 Tennessee, No. 9 Missouri, No. 10 Michigan, No. 11 Southern Cal and No. 22 Louisville have all lost games to unranked or lower-ranked opponents. The ACC After Dark special between Cal and No. 8 Miami ended in fireworks, with the Hurricanes needing a fourth-quarter comeback to stay spotless.

As a result, the Nittany Lions capitalized on their modest winning streak.

Published on Sunday afternoonPenn State climbed to No. 5 in the latest coaches poll. The Nittany Lions round out the top five with Texas, Ohio State, Oregon and Georgia. The Bulldogs are the only one-loss program among the top six teams, which also includes Miami. The Nittany Lions fell just 11 points shy of fourth place in the voting.

The full Big Ten ranking picture in the Coaches Poll includes Ohio State (2), Oregon (3), Penn State (5), Indiana (20), Michigan (21) and Illinois (23). The Nittany Lions’ upcoming opponent, Southern Cal, fell from the Trojans’ No. 15 rankings after losing 24-17 at Minnesota on Saturday night.

In the meantime, the latest AP Top 25 has positioned Penn State similarly. The Nittany Lions finished Week 6 at No. 7 and moved up to No. 4 this week.

Penn State trails only Texas, Ohio State and Oregon in the updated rankings, with Georgia rounding out the top five. Other Big Ten teams featured in the rankings include Indiana at No. 18, Illinois at No. 23 and Michigan at No. 24. Southern Cal received votes with 98, followed by Nebraska with 51 and Washington with 4.

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