UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State Athletics is off to another superlative start in the Learfield Directors' Cup, moving up to No. 2 in the latest standings.
The Nittany Lions rose to No. 2 on the strength of the Big Ten champion women’s volleyball team advancing to last week’s NCAA championship semifinals.
The Nittany Lions are on track to post their highest fall finish in the Learfield Directors’ Cup since placing No. 2 in 2005-06. Penn State has an opportunity to earn its 13th top-five fall placing overall and is seeking its 11th consecutive top-10 fall finish. The Nittany Lions have finished in the top 10 in the final fall standings in 20 of the 24 years the Directors’ Cup has existed.
The final fall standings will be announced in mid-January, with Penn State in line to earn additional Learfield Directors’ Cup points from its No. 9-ranked football team. The Nittany Lions face Washington in the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 30.
Stanford leads the Directors’ Cup with (468) points and is followed by Penn State (315.50), UCLA (307), Michigan (294.5), Wisconsin (279), Colorado (269.5), Michigan State (255), North Carolina State (252.5), Princeton (242) and North Carolina (230).
The Big Ten leads all conferences with four schools in the top 10.
During the fall semester, the Penn State women’s volleyball team won its 17th Big Ten championship and the women’s soccer team captured its seventh Big Ten Tournament title. The field hockey, men’s and women’s cross-country, women’s soccer and women’s volleyball teams all competed in their respective NCAA championships.
Five Penn State fall teams were ranked in their respective top 10 (final regular season ranking): women’s cross-country (10), field hockey (6), football (9), women’s soccer (5) and women’s volleyball (3).
Penn State and Stanford were the only schools to have three teams advance to the NCAA quarterfinals among this fall’s five team-bracketed NCAA championships.
Penn State is among only nine institutions nationwide to have finished in the top 25 in all 24 Learfield Directors' Cup final standings.