Penn State continues its ascent up the rankings.

After a 39-0 shutout win at Rutgers, combined with a loss from the No. 5 team in the country Thursday night, Penn State has moved up a spot in the Associated Press Poll and two spots in the USA Today/Coaches Poll.

With a 9-2 record, the Nittany Lions currently stand at No. 8 in all major polls after Sunday’s updates. In the College Football Playoff rankings released last week, they were already ranked No. 8. The CFP is updated Tuesday night.

Big Ten teams ahead of the Nittany Lions in this week’s AP and USA Today/Coaches polls include Ohio State (2), Michigan (3) and Wisconsin (5), as all four of the conference’s Top 10 teams finished the weekend on a winning note.

With one regular-season game remaining Penn State returns home for the finale Saturday, a 3:30 p.m. kickoff against Michigan State. The Nittany Lion hopes for a berth in the Big Ten Championship remains.

Michigan is the East team that is in the driver’s seat for the game in Indianapolis Dec. 3. But if the Nittany Lions beat the Spartans and the Wolverines falter against the Buckeyes next weekend, PSU is the squad chosen to represent the East in the league title game.

As soon as the Nittany Lions’ game ended in Piscataway, N.J., Saturday night, right after PSU held Rutgers to fewer total yards than any other Big Ten opponent in school history, head coach James Franklin made a plea to the Nittany Lion fan base to fill Beaver Stadium for the last tilt of the year.

“We're going to need everybody,” Franklin said. “I know Thanksgiving break is a challenge but I am personally and professionally challenging all of our lettermen, all of our alumni, the community (and) the students. The dorms will be opened on Friday at 3 o'clock. We need every student on campus. We need the lettermen from all over the country. LaVar (Arrington), I'm personally calling you out. Fly in for the game. We need everybody back for the game.

“Obviously this is a unique situation, and like I've mentioned before we're tough to beat at home when that stadium is rocking with 107,000. We're going to need that on Saturday.”