As the season forges on, and with Penn State football sitting at 8-0 following its win over Michigan State Saturday, it may be time to start glancing at the endgame for this team.

With a bye next week, there aren’t any games standing between Penn State and the release of the official College Football Playoff rankings on November 5.

Thanks to Kansas State upsetting then-No. 5 Oklahoma, the Nittany Lions moved up to No. 5 in the AP Top 25 poll this week. This is the highest Penn State has been ranked all year, and the first time it’s been in the top five since 2017.

It should be taken into account, though, that the decision to place Penn State at No. 5 wasn’t a unanimous one. In fact, three different AP voters had the Nittany Lions in the ever-so-sweet top four.

AP voters Pat Dooley and James Kratch had the Nittany Lions ahead of Clemson at No. 4, while Sam McKewon had them at No. 3 ahead of both Clemson and Alabama. There’s no immediate bias here either, as the only Penn State-focused AP voter, Matt Brown, had the Nittany Lions at No. 5.

Although 55 of the 62 voters have Penn State comfortably at the No. 5 spot, it’s noteworthy that a few voters think very highly of the team. It’s also important to note that a handful of voters had Penn State a bit lower at No. 6, below Florida, but none had the Nittany Lions fall beyond that.

The AP Poll is a good way to gauge a team’s success, but until the College Football Playoff rankings come out on November 5, fans can only make assumptions and be cautiously hopeful about the Nittany Lions’ fate.