UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State Athletics is off to another strong start in the Learfield Directors’ Cup, as the Nittany Lions seek a 10th consecutive Top 10 fall finish.
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In the latest fall Directors’ Cup standings, Penn State is ranked No. 8. The Nittany Lions have finished in the Top 10 in the final fall standings in 19 of the 23 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 Big Ten Championship football team. The Nittany Lions face USC in the Rose Bowl on January 2.
Penn State is among only nine institutions nationwide to have finished in the Top 25 in all 23 Learfield Directors’ Cup final standings.
During the fall semester, Penn State won Big Ten Championships in football and women’s soccer and the field hockey team captured the Big Ten Tournament title. The field hockey, women’s cross country, women’s soccer and women’s volleyball teams all competed in their respective NCAA Championships. Four fall teams were ranked in their respective Top 15 (final regular season ranking): women’s cross country (8), field hockey (5), football (5) and women’s volleyball (13).
Stanford leads the Directors’ Cup with 440 points and is followed by UCLA (348), North Carolina (320), BYU (267.5), Wisconsin (255), Virginia (244), Michigan (230), Penn State (221), Oregon (219) and USC (215).
Penn State has one of the nation’s most comprehensive and successful athletic programs, featuring 800 student-athletes across 31 varsity programs (16 men’s, 15 women’s). Penn State student-athletes have an NCAA Graduation Success Rate of 89 percent. The Nittany Lions rank No. 4 among all Division I schools with 195 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans all-time.
The Nittany Lions’ 48 NCAA Championships all-time (76 national championships overall) rank No. 5 among all NCAA Division I programs and are the highest total of any college or university east of the Mississippi River. Penn State has won 100 Big Ten Championships since capturing its first title in 1992.
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