The Nittany Lions climbed to No. 5 in the AP Top 25 Poll after capturing the Big Ten Championship in Indianapolis. Penn State came ahead of Michigan, but remained behind Washington, Clemson, Ohio State, and Alabama.

It’s the highest the Nittany Lions have been in the AP Poll all season long after coming in at No. 8 in last week’s poll. The AP figure hints that the Lions would be left out of the College Football Playoff in the eyes of the voters, but the Playoff selection committee could decide otherwise at noon today when the final College Football playoff ranking comes out.

Plenty have made the case that Penn State should be ranked ahead of Ohio State, but the AP went with the more common narrative.

We’ll see what Penn State’s fate is later on today.