Where Penn State lands on ESPN’s latest Big Ten offseason rankings

We are starting to get a clear picture of how each college football team is going to shape up in 2026 now that we are deep into the offseason. Teams have concluded their spring practices and rosters are essentially done being filled out for the upcoming season. With these facts in mind, ESPN took the time to rank each Power 4 school’s offseason by conference.

Penn State is having one of the better recruiting cycles in the country, but unfortunately that doesn’t factor into ESPN’s list. The sports media conglomerate ranked each team in the Big Ten, with the Nittany Lions landing at No. 5 behind some obvious choices like Ohio State, Indiana, and the Oregon Ducks.

While Penn State’s future appears to be lustrous, it can’t be ignored that they lost a lot of talent to the transfer portal and this year’s NFL draft. A lot of the additions they did make, like quarterback Rocco Becht and running back Carson Hansen, came over from Iowa State as three-star recruits who serve as stopgaps until more talent can be infused into the roster.

The Nittany Lions may not have as much talent on paper as other teams in the conference, but they should have a lot of camaraderie with a ton of players who followed their coach, Matt Campbell, to Happy Valley. ESPN may not be the biggest believers in Penn State, but they have some serious momentum heading into the 2026 season.