| Week | Date | Rank | Rec | Points | FPV | CP | BCS | Last Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre | Aug 18 | 17 | 0-0 | 542 | 0 | 18 | -- | DNP |
| 1 | Sep 4 | 14 | 1-0 | 662 | 0 | 15 | -- | |
| 2 | Sep 9 | 12 | 2-0 | 896 | 0 | 12 | -- | |
| 3 | Sep 16 | 10 | 3-0 | 1041 | 0 | 10 | -- | |
| 4 | Sep 23 | 21 | 3-1 | 337 | 0 | 19 | -- | |
| 5 | Sep 30 | RV | 4 | 0 | -- | |||
| 6 | Oct 7 | RV | 13 | -- | ||||
| 7 | Oct 14 | RV | 5-2 | 95 | 0 | 25 | NR | |
| 8 | Oct 21 | 24 | 6-2 | 209 | 0 | 22 | 25 | |
| 9 | Oct 28 | RV | 30 | 0 | NR | |||
| 10 | Nov 4 | RV | 38 | 0 | 23 | |||
| 11 | Nov 11 | RV | 98 | NR | ||||
| 12 | Nov 18 | RV | 4 | NR | ||||
| 13 | Nov 25 | RV | 1 | NR | ||||
| 14 | Dec 2 | RV | 1 | NR | ||||
| Final | Jan 8 | RV | 61 | -- |
Note: Penn State's ranking in the final 1961 poll has been changed to unranked after the original AP wire story and poll was revisited and confirmed across several newspapers.