Correction appended
Against a backdrop of pom-pom waving, white-clad fans, Penn State set the stage for its highest national ranking in three seasons.
Penn State defeated Illinois on Saturday night at Beaver Stadium, and on Sunday, the Nittany Lions jumped to No. 6 in both the Associated Press' and ESPN's coaches' polls.
Penn State's ranking is its highest since the 2005 season, when the Nittany Lions finished No. 3 in the country after beating Florida State in the Orange Bowl.
Penn State rose six spots after a bevy of losses in the top 10.
USC, which was ranked No. 1, lost, 27-21, to Oregon State Thursday night. The Trojans fell to ninth in both polls. Ole Miss, winless last season in the Southeastern Conference, went to No. 4 Florida and won, 31-30.
No. 9 Wisconsin, previously the Big Ten's top-ranked team, lost, 27-25, at Michigan. No. 3 Georgia fell at home to No. 8 Alabama, 41-30.
"There were a lot of upsets [Saturday], and I'm glad we weren't one," Penn State linebacker Navorro Bowman said.
Oklahoma, Alabama, LSU, Missouri and Texas, in order, are ahead of Penn State in the Associated Press poll.
Eric Page, who writes for the Quad-City Times in Davenport, Iowa, ranked Penn State third, the highest ranking out of any of the 65 voters.
"I think they're dominant on both sides of the ball," Page said. "[Daryll] Clark's doing a great job at quarterback. They score points at will, seemingly."
The Nittany Lions may have gained more respect for their handling of Oregon State, who in turn beat USC, than their win over Illinois. Jon Wilner, a voter for the San Jose Mercury News, voted Penn State 13th last week but bumped the Nittany Lions to seventh this week partially because of Oregon State upsetting the Trojans.
"Beating Illinois was part of it, but the USC-Oregon State result was also definitely a significant part of the reason I moved Penn State up," Wilner said. "All of a sudden, that's a much better looking win now than it was a couple weeks ago."
Penn State's steady ascent in the polls continued Sunday. Penn State was 22nd in the Associated Press preseason poll, 19th after the first week, 17th after the second week, 16th after the third week and 12th after the fourth week.
While Penn State doesn't become consumed with the ranking, it is something the players notice.
"We look forward to seeing that stuff on Sunday," center A.Q. Shipley said. "We want to see how good we are based on their standards. Once you see it on Sunday, you've got to put it in the back of your mind."
On a weekend when six ranked teams fell, Joe Paterno was happy to survive.
"That is a problem you face all of the time, particularly when things have been easy for you, and that was a little bit in the back of my head," Paterno said, adding "I don't want to go overboard, but we are getting close to being a really good football team."
This article incorrectly reported the proper name of the coaches poll. The poll is the USA Today coaches poll.
The readout accompanying this story incorrectly reported the last time Penn State was ranked in the top 10. Penn State was ranked No. 10 before its Sept. 22 game against Michigan in 2007.
