Penn State knows how close it came to playing for a national championship last season, losing in the closing seconds of the College Football Playoff semifinals. For the Nittany Lions, 2025 is about continuing to reshape the narrative. Expert Daniel Gallen from Lions247 joined Bud Elliott on the Cover 3 College Football Summer School series to break down what success looks like in Happy Valley this fall -- a season where expectations are as high as ever.
What are the stakes for Penn State in 2025?
Penn State returns 14 starters from last season -- nine on offense and five on defense. That is one of the highest totals among power conference teams. The Nittany Lions appear to be in a similar all-in mode as Michigan and Ohio State were ahead of their recent national title runs. That means the pressure on James Franklin to finally bring a national championship back to Happy Valley might be greater than ever.
"I think the mindset of Penn State right now is that they know how close they came last year to being able to play for a national championship," Gallen said. "And they're very aware of what their shortcomings were. And I think we've seen that in how they've addressed things this offseason -- in terms of guys they've added in the portal, some moves they've made at wide receiver, players who hit the portal and left. I think that Penn State's approach to this offseason was reshaping, retooling, putting themselves in position to make a pretty big run [this] year with everything they have coming back."
Penn State's fate will come down to whether quarterback Drew Allar can take the next step and guide the Nittany Lions' offense with the explosiveness needed to fulfill the program's championship expectations.
Breakout player everybody needs to know
The obvious most notable departure on the Penn State defense -- aside from coordinator Tom Allen leaving for Clemson and Jim Knowles taking over from Ohio State -- is the loss of Abdul Carter. But the Nittany Lions might just have a rising talent in Max Granville who can help soften that blow on the edge.
"He's someone that there's a lot of excitement about," Gallen said. "And when Abdul Carter got hurt in the Fiesta Bowl, Granville was the guy who entered in Carter's spot. If Carter had been limited or couldn't go in the Orange Bowl, you would have had a big Max Granville game."
Granville is a former four-star prospect that enters his redshirt freshman season in 2025. He reclassified up a year and arrived on campus last July after finishing his junior year of high school in Texas.
Win total outlook
The projected win total for Penn State is 10.5, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, with juice on the under.
That number is tied with Ohio State and Oregon for the highest mark in the Big Ten leading up to the 2025 season. The Nittany Lions do draw both those opponents on the schedule, but arguably the third-toughest game is a trip to Iowa, so the path to double-digit wins -- and another potential Big Ten Championship Game berth -- remains very much within reach.
"The logical thing to expect is improving on what you saw last year," Gallen said. "And there's not a lot of room between the bar and the ceiling in this situation."
