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Penn State Nittany Lions football cracks top-20 in CBS, ESPN power rankings

Penn State Nittany Lions football made an appearance in two recently released Power Rankings by major media networks.

Penn State is coming off a 2020 season in which it went 4-5 — its worst campaign since 2004, when the Nittany Lions posted a 4-7 record. It snapped a streak of 15 consecutive winning seasons for the program.

Still, the Nittany Lions claimed a spot in the top-20 of the power rankings released by both ESPN.com and CBS Sports this week.

Let's take a look at the full rankings, below:

Penn State Nittany Lions football made an appearance in the top-20 of ESPN and CBS Power Rankings.
Penn State Nittany Lions football made an appearance in the top-20 of ESPN and CBS Power Rankings.
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ESPN's College Football Power Rankings Top-25

1. Alabama

2. Oklahoma

3. Clemson

4. Georgia

5. Ohio State

6. Texas A&M

7. Iowa State

8. Oregon

9. Notre Dame

10. North Carolina

11. Cincinnati

12. Florida

13. USC

14. LSU

15. Miami

16. Wisconsin

17. Indiana

18. Iowa

19. Washington

20. Penn State

21. Texas

22. Coastal Carolina

23. Louisiana

24. Ole Miss

25. Arizona State

Penn State comes in at No. 20 in ESPN's rankings, which serves as a pretty significant departure from the ratings produced by the network's Football Power Index formula, which has the Nittany Lions as the No. 13 team in the country.

The ESPN Power rankings include five Big Ten teams, with the Nittany Lions being the lowest-ranked out of those five.

The four other teams in the rankings all appear on Penn State's schedule in 2021, despite two of them playing in the Big Ten West.

Ohio State is the highest-ranked Big Ten team at No. 5, with Wisconsin following at No. 16, Indiana at No. 17 and Iowa at No. 18.

RELATED: 30 thoughts before the Penn State football season begins

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CBS Sports Rankings Top-25

1. Alabama

2. Clemson

3. Oklahoma

4. Ohio State

5. Georgia

6. Iowa State

7. Texas A&M

8. North Carolina

9. Oregon

10. Notre Dame

11. Cincinnati

12. Florida

13. Wisconsin

14. LSU

15. Miami

16. USC

17. Penn State

18. Iowa

19. Texas

20. Washington

21. Indiana

22. Utah

23. Ole Miss

24. Arizona State

25. Louisiana

CBS Sports' preseason rankings proved kinder to the Nittany Lions than ESPN's rankings did.

Penn State comes in at No. 17 on these rankings, three spots higher than they did among ESPN's experts.

Iowa, Indiana and Washington are the three programs Penn State leapfrogged in CBS Sports's rankings to make up the difference.

CBS placed the same five Big Ten teams in the top-25 of its preseason rankings, with Ohio State coming in at No. 4, Wisconsin at No. 13, Penn State at No. 17, Iowa at No. 18 and Indiana at No. 21.

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