In the third week of the college football playoff rankings, the Nittany Lions find themselves at number 12 after falling to playoff contender Michigan by single digits.
Both teams that Penn State has lost two are in the top five of the rankings, with Michigan at number 3 and Ohio State at number 2. Iowa is now up to No. 16, which gives PSU a ranked win on the season (and the Hawkeyes were ranked the week that they were blanked in a whiteout).
Future Big Ten conference members Washington, Oregon, and USC are also ranked.