Penn State Nittany Lions football made an appearance in two recently released Power Rankings by major media networks.
Penn State is coming off a 2020 season in which it went 4-5 — its worst campaign since 2004, when the Nittany Lions posted a 4-7 record. It snapped a streak of 15 consecutive winning seasons for the program.
Still, the Nittany Lions claimed a spot in the top-20 of the power rankings released by both ESPN.com and CBS Sports this week.
Let's take a look at the full rankings, below:
ESPN's College Football Power Rankings Top-25
1. Alabama
2. Oklahoma
3. Clemson
4. Georgia
5. Ohio State
6. Texas A&M
7. Iowa State
8. Oregon
9. Notre Dame
10. North Carolina
11. Cincinnati
12. Florida
13. USC
14. LSU
15. Miami
16. Wisconsin
17. Indiana
18. Iowa
19. Washington
20. Penn State
21. Texas
22. Coastal Carolina
23. Louisiana
24. Ole Miss
25. Arizona State
Penn State comes in at No. 20 in ESPN's rankings, which serves as a pretty significant departure from the ratings produced by the network's Football Power Index formula, which has the Nittany Lions as the No. 13 team in the country.
The ESPN Power rankings include five Big Ten teams, with the Nittany Lions being the lowest-ranked out of those five.
The four other teams in the rankings all appear on Penn State's schedule in 2021, despite two of them playing in the Big Ten West.
Ohio State is the highest-ranked Big Ten team at No. 5, with Wisconsin following at No. 16, Indiana at No. 17 and Iowa at No. 18.
RELATED: 30 thoughts before the Penn State football season begins
CBS Sports Rankings Top-25
1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Oklahoma
4. Ohio State
5. Georgia
6. Iowa State
7. Texas A&M
8. North Carolina
9. Oregon
10. Notre Dame
11. Cincinnati
12. Florida
13. Wisconsin
14. LSU
15. Miami
16. USC
17. Penn State
18. Iowa
19. Texas
20. Washington
21. Indiana
22. Utah
23. Ole Miss
24. Arizona State
25. Louisiana
CBS Sports' preseason rankings proved kinder to the Nittany Lions than ESPN's rankings did.
Penn State comes in at No. 17 on these rankings, three spots higher than they did among ESPN's experts.
Iowa, Indiana and Washington are the three programs Penn State leapfrogged in CBS Sports's rankings to make up the difference.
CBS placed the same five Big Ten teams in the top-25 of its preseason rankings, with Ohio State coming in at No. 4, Wisconsin at No. 13, Penn State at No. 17, Iowa at No. 18 and Indiana at No. 21.
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