Penn State moves to No. 1 in new SP+ rankings; where do the Lions rank among unbeaten teams?

Penn State news, notes, and updates for Sept. 16 include new SP+ rankings, headlines of the day, and more. Bill Connelly’s data-driven rankings for ESPN now call Penn State the No. 1 team in the country after three weeks of play. It’s driven by his metrics that say the Lions have the fifth-best offense in the country, No. 3 defense, and No. 39 special teams unit. Connelly used that info to rank the 39 still unbeaten college football teams in order of the most likely teams to stay undefeated to the least. PSU checks in at No. 3 behind two teams it will face later this year: Oregon and Ohio State.

“Penn State pulled a Penn State on Saturday, starting slowly against a lesser opponent before eventually steamrolling them,” Connelly writes. “The Nittany Lions have yet to face a team ranked better than 112th in SP+, but that changes very soon: After a Week 4 bye, they’ll host Oregon in a loaded Week 5.”

Speaking of the Ducks, why does Connelly have them at No. 1 on the list? He writes:

“It took Dan Lanning’s Ducks a little while to put Northwestern away early Saturday, primarily because their opponents were embarking on a series of lengthy (and eventually scoreless) drives. But they were never in danger, and they’ve spent most of three games in kick-butt-and-take-names mode.”

The Lions and Ducks meet on Sept. 27 at Beaver Stadium. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. ET. NBC will televise the game.

The rest of today’s newsstand is below.

Headlines of the day

Where do Penn State’s 2026 commits rank in the latest Rivals300?: Snyder, BWI

What we’ve learned (and haven’t) from Penn State’s 3-0 start: Defense: Bauer, BWI

Four-star DE Rion Jackson shares decision timeline and when he’ll be back at Penn State following Villanova visit: Snyder, BWI

First Impressions from Penn State Football’s 3-0 start: Fitz, BWI

It’s the Penn State bye week: How will the Lions spend it?: Pickel, BWI

Quote of the day

“We’ll practice Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, which is our typical bye week schedule. The guys will have the weekend [off], including all Friday and Saturday. The coaches will be out recruiting, and then we’ll get into a traditional game week the following Sunday.

“Obviously, we’ll have the advantage of not having to break down the previous game and not make corrections in practice, so we’ll be a little bit ahead. But we need to get better. We need to get better on Tuesday; we need to get better on Wednesday. And then we need to be able to come in the next week in a really good place with a tremendous opportunity and a tremendous challenge in front of us.”

PSU coach James Franklin on his team’s bye week plan.