Penn State football has some lofty expectations heading into the 2020 college football season. ESPN’s preseason college football Football Power Index (FPI) rankings have Penn State at No. 5 behind Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Alabama.

The FPI is a measure of team strength and is meant to be the best predictor of a team’s performance. Last season, Clemson and LSU, the two teams in the NCAA National Championship game, were both ranked in the top five of ESPN’s preseason FPI rankings.

The Nittany Lions were ranked No. 7 in the FPI preseason rankings last season, but receive a two-spot improvement despite losing stars on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball, most notably Yetur Gross-Matos and KJ Hamler.

Penn State is projected to have a top-10 offense and defense, as it’s ranked No. 5 in the offensive FPI and No. 10 in defensive. The top five in the FPI rankings are offensively friendly, with every team in top five also having a top five projected offense.

The Big Ten has the second-most teams in the FPI top 25 with six teams — Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, and Nebraska — trailing only the SEC’s seven teams.

Penn State will have a large amount of returning starters, with Sean Clifford, Micah Parsons, Pat Freiermuth, and Journey Brown headlining them.

About the Author

Gabe Angieri

After a four-year career with Onward State, Gabe is now a college graduate and off to the real world. He shockingly served as the blog’s managing editor during the 2022-23 school year and covered football for much of his Onward State tenure, including trips to the Outback Bowl and Rose Bowl. For any professional inquiries, please email Gabe at gabeangieri24@gmail.com. You can still see his bad sports takes on Twitter at @gabeangieri.

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