ALTOONA, Pa. -- After Saturday night's 38-25 beatdown at the hands of Ohio State, Penn State is unranked in both polls for the first time since 2016. The 0-2 start marks the first time since 2012 the Nittany Lions have started the season winless through two games.
Fear not Penn State fans as the Nittany Lions received 56 votes in the Coaches Poll to put them behind the likes of Northwestern (112 votes), Liberty (92 votes), Louisiana-Layfayette (90 votes), Kansas State (64 votes) and Utah (57 votes).
It was more of the same in the AP Top-25 as Penn State received 87 votes which puts the Nittany Lions at No. 29 in the country. Penn State fell behind Northwestern, Louisiana-Layfayette and North Carolina.
The Nittany Lions began the 2016 season unranked before finished at No. 7 as they beat Ohio State and Wisconsin en route to a Big Ten championship. While that's not going to happen this season, Penn State falling out of the top-25 marks the end of a streak of consistent, quality brand of football that put the Nittany Lions among the top teams in the country.
It's very possible Penn State won't make it back into the top-25 the rest of the season as they have remaining games against Maryland, Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan, Rutgers and Michigan State plus a match-up against a team from the Big Ten West the last week of the season.
Looking ahead, though it's only the second week of the season, not one of the teams remaining currently has a winning record with Maryland, Iowa, Michigan, Rutgers and Michigan State all sitting at 1-1 with Nebraska winless at 0-1.
The Nittany Lions showed promise in the second half offensively with the emergence of wide receiver Jahan Dotson and solid play from freshman receiver Parker Washington. Defensively though, Penn State struggled mightily at keeping Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields in check as he threw for 318 yards and four touchdowns.
It's been an ugly start to the season for the Nittany Lions and has the potential to get even uglier. While the hot seat for head coach James Franklin is starting to get warmer, there's little chance a change will be made despite the lack of early success. Getting this team back to playing winning football will ultimately be one of Franklin's best work yet.