Where did James Franklin put Penn State in his final USA Today Coaches Poll ballot?

Penn State coach James Franklin is one of the 53 program leaders who make up the voting block for the weekly USA Today Coaches Poll. As we’ll detail below, he doesn’t do the leg work himself, as you could have probably assumed. But, his name does go on the ballot. Where did he put his team in the final one for the 2024 season?

According to USA Today, Franklin’s top five, in order, was Ohio State, Notre Dame, Oregon, Penn State, and Texas. The collective group put the Nittany Lions at No. 5 behind the Longhorns and Ducks, respectively, with the Buckeyes and Fighting Irish on top, of course.

Alex Golesh of USF had the Nittany Lions at No. 7, which was the lowest of any head coach. Multiple voters had Penn State as high as No. 3.

You can see Franklin’s full ballot below:

Ohio State

Notre Dame

Oregon

Penn State

Texas

Georgia

Indiana

Arizona State

Tennessee

Boise State

Ole Miss

BYU

SMU

Illinois

South Carolina

Clemson

Iowa State

Alabama

Miami (Fla.)

Missouri

Army

Syracuse

Memphis

Colorado

UNLV

And, here’s how the final ballot overall looked:

1) Ohio State
2) Notre Dame
3) Texas
4) Oregon
5) Penn State
6) Georgia
7) Arizona State
8) Tennessee
9) Boise State
10) Indiana
11) SMU
12) Clemson
13) Ole Miss

More: Penn State quarterback Drew Allar among 2025 Heisman Trophy favorites

14) BYU
15) Iowa State
16) Illinois
17) Alabama
18) Miami
19) South Carolina
20) Missouri
21) Army
22) Syracuse
23) Memphis
24) UNLV
25) Colorado

How does Penn State coach James Franklin handle being a USA Today Coaches Poll voter?

He answered that question earlier this year.

“Basically, I think Sunday mornings that’s got to be in, I think, by 12:00,” he said. “Michael Hazel used to put this together for us. Now Will Ryman does that. He puts it together for us. We typically have the AP Poll last week, the Coaches Poll, and then how we voted last week. They’re usually always pretty consistent for the most part, to be honest with you. I look at that, and then I look at whoever lost that week, whoever won that week that was in the top 25, who should come out of the top 25, who should go into the top 25 based on the previous weeks.

“I’m also a big proponent of the power conferences just based on the competition that they play week in and week out and the challenges that come with that, but for the most part it’s very, very similar to what you see out there publicly. There’s very little differences between the AP poll, the Coaches Poll and our poll that we put out every single week.”

Penn State finished 2024 at No. 5 in both the Associated Press top 25 and the USA Today Coaches Poll. It is in the top five of almost every too-early top 25 for the 2025 season. Stewart Mandel of The Athletic put the Nittany Lions at No. 1. Most voters have them at either No. 3 or No. 4. You can read a full roundup here.

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