Penn State slips to No. 16 in AP college football poll

After a 41-17 loss at Michigan, Penn State dropped six spots to No. 16 on Sunday in the Associated Press college football poll.

The Nittany Lions (5-1, 2-1 Big Ten) had no answers for Michigan’s running game on Saturday as the Wolverines piled up 418 yards on the ground. Michigan averaged 7.6 yards per carry.

Penn State coach James Franklin lamented that his undersized defensive line did not disrupt the running game. “Everyone thinks they’re Aaron Donald now and they’re not,” Franklin said.

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“It hurts any time a team rushes for that amount of yards,” Nittany Lions defensive tackle PJ Mustipher said. “As a defensive line, we pride ourselves on stopping the run and we didn’t do that.”

Penn State will host Minnesota and No. 2 Ohio State over the next two weeks, giving it a chance to stay in the Big Ten race.

Tennessee moved up to No. 3 in the AP poll behind No. 1 Georgia and No. 2 Ohio State after knocking off Alabama.

The Crimson Tide were one of five unbeaten teams to fall during a wild weekend and dropped three places to No. 6. Alabama swapped places with the Vols after losing to them, 52-49, on a field goal as time expired Saturday.

Georgia remained No. 1 and received 31 first-place votes and Ohio State had 17 first-place votes.

The Vols received 15 first-place votes and have their best ranking since starting the 2005 season at No. 3. The last time Tennessee was ranked this highly in the second half of the season was 2001, reaching the top 10 in late October.

No. 4 Michigan moved up a spot Sunday, switching places with No. 5 Clemson after the Wolverines’ impressive win. No. 7 Mississippi moved up two spots and No. 8 TCU, No. 9 UCLA, and No. 10 Oregon all moved into the top 10.

The Crimson Tide had its string of 40 straight appearances in the top five snapped. It was the longest such active streak in the country. Georgia now has the longest run of top-five appearances with 24.

Tennessee made a case to be the No. 1 team in the country, and it swayed some voters.

Those who bought in on the Vols cited a resumé that includes four victories against teams that were ranked at the time (at Pitt, Florida, at LSU, and Alabama).

“I voted Tennessee No. 1 because the Vols’ strength of schedule is far superior to UGA and Ohio State,” said Ron Counts of the Idaho Statesman in Boise.

For comparison, Georgia has played just one team (Oregon) that has been ranked at any point this season. Ohio State has played three, though only one was ranked at the time (Notre Dame) and all of those opponents have at least three losses.

Plus, beating Alabama doesn’t happen often and holds a lot of weight with voters. No team this season has beaten a team with a better ranking at the time the game was played than Tennessee.