Penn State Nittany Lions

Big Ten · University Park, PA

As ofWeek 6
Rank#35
Rating1557.39
Vs preseason-5.76

2026 weekly history

Rank and rating after each published week. New rows appear automatically as weekly snapshots are published.

Preseason271563.150.00—
Week 1211587.64+24.49+24.49
Week 2201588.46+25.31+0.82
Week 3181596.35+33.20+7.89
Week 4231580.09+16.94-16.26
Week 5301564.18+1.03-15.91
Week 6351557.39-5.76-6.79

Why this preseason rating?

Every team starts at 1500 (national average), then gains or loses points from four measurable categories. See how the formula works →

1500.00
+55.82
+7.75
-24.34
+23.93
1563.15

Underlying data

Raw inputs from CFDB used to build the preseason rating. Each metric is standardized nationally before contributing to the score. Read the full methodology →

Prior strength (2025)

1954
14.4
18.1

Roster quality (2026)

774.04
194.39

Returning production

3.5%

Transfer portal

38 (avg 0.869)
47 (avg 0.871)
-9.00

Game-by-game audit

Each completed game updates this team's rating using opponent strength, home-field advantage, and how the result compared to expectation. For every game below you can see the rating at kickoff, the opponent's rating, the model's expected margin, the actual scoreboard margin, the gap between those two, and the exact rating points gained or lost. Ratings and game-audit tables for each published week are linked above that week's results.

vs Marshall — 45-0home
Poll rank before
#26
Rating before
1563.15
Opponent rating
1485.03
Expected margin
+15.54
Actual margin
+45.00
vs expectation
+29.46
Rating change
+24.48
Poll rank after
#21
vs Temple — 27-9away
Poll rank before
#22
Rating before
1587.64
Opponent rating
1449.30
Expected margin
+17.02
Actual margin
+18.00
vs expectation
+0.98
Rating change
+0.82
Poll rank after
#20
vs Buffalo — 55-13home
Poll rank before
#18
Rating before
1588.46
Opponent rating
1397.52
Expected margin
+32.51
Actual margin
+42.00
vs expectation
+9.49
Rating change
+7.89
Poll rank after
#18
vs Wisconsin — 20-24home
Poll rank before
#16
Rating before
1596.35
Opponent rating
1518.12
Expected margin
+15.56
Actual margin
-4.00
vs expectation
-19.56
Rating change
-16.25
Poll rank after
#23
vs Northwestern — 13-34away
Poll rank before
#23
Rating before
1580.09
Opponent rating
1567.23
Expected margin
-1.86
Actual margin
-21.00
vs expectation
-19.14
Rating change
-15.91
Poll rank after
#30
vs USC — 23-31home
Poll rank before
#33
Rating before
1564.18
Opponent rating
1588.24
Expected margin
+0.17
Actual margin
-8.00
vs expectation
-8.17
Rating change
-6.79
Poll rank after
#35