Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1524108
1 4 A U G U S T 2 0 2 4 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M By The Numbers PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL 2 Former Penn State running backs on the ballot for the College Foot- ball Hall of Fame's 2025 induction class. Ki-Jana Carter was a first-team All-American and the second-leading vote-getter in the Heisman Trophy balloting in 1994 after rushing for 1,539 yards and scoring 23 touchdowns. D.J. Dozier was the only player in program history to lead the team in rushing four years in a row, doing so from 1983-86 and capping his career by scoring the winning touchdown against Miami in the Fiesta Bowl to claim the 1986 na- tional championship. There are 77 players and nine coaches on the 2025 ballot. The class will be an- nounced early next year. 2nd Penn State's place among the nation's top 10 backfields, per Jesse Simonton's position-group rankings for On3. With juniors NICHOLAS SINGLETON and Kaytron Al- len leading the way, the Nittany Lions trail only Ohio State's elite combo (TreVeyon Hender- son and Quinshon Judkins) on Simonton's list. "The 'Lawn Boyz' should flourish in Andy Kotelnicki's creative, run-friendly system this fall," Simonton notes. "They have some added support, too, as freshman Quinton Martin Jr. was a spring star and looks like a viable No. 3 option as a slip- pery, explosive playmaker." T wo o t h e r P SU p o s i t i o n groups crack their respective top 10s, with the defensive line/edge rushers checking in at No. 10 and the safeties at No. 5. 3 Touchdowns by Penn State-bound wide receiver Tyseer Denmark in the Big 33 Classic on May 26 at Cum- berland Valley (Pa.) High. The incom- ing Nittany Lion freshman scored on all but one of his 4 catches in the an- nual all-star classic, in which Pennsyl- vania routed Maryland, 31-7. Denmark, a three-star prospect from Imhotep Charter in Philadelphia, finished with 95 yards in the game, highlighted by a 52-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter. 6th Ranking of the 2017 Rose Bowl in ESPN writer Bill Connelly's list of the top 50 games between teams that will be new con- ference rivals this season following the latest wave of realignment. The fifth-ranked Nittany Lions fell to ninth-ranked USC, 52-49, in Pasadena to conclude the 2016 season. Connelly labeled the back-and-forth game, in which Saquon Barkley racked up 306 yards of total offense, "one of the great popcorn flicks of the 2010s." 10.1 Projected regular-season victories by the Penn State football team this fall, according to ESPN's Football Power Index. The FPI uses a rating system that assigns values for offense, defense and special teams units, then conducts 20,000 simula- tions of the season. The Nittany Lions were given a 99.1 percent chance of winning six or more games, a 22.2 percent chance of winning the Big Ten crown and a 59.1 percent chance of making the 12-team College Football Playoff. According to ESPN's algo- rithm, there are only seven teams in the country with better than 50 percent odds of qualifying for the CFP. In ad- dition to Penn State, the list includes Georgia, Oregon, Texas, Ohio State, Notre Dame and Alabama. 11th James Franklin's spot in CBSSports.com's rank- ing of the top 25 coaches in the Power Four conferences heading into the 2024 season. "Franklin may be the poster coach for how coaches would be per- ceived nationally if we had an expanded playoff from the start," columnist Tom Fornelli writes. "He's had plenty of success at Penn State but has failed to break through the Michigan and Ohio State ceiling. If we'd had a 12-team playoff the entire time, Franklin and the Nittany Lions would have had at least five appearances." +2000 Penn State's odds of winning the national championship this year, per the FanDuel Sportsbook as of June 4. The Nittany Lions are listed as having the eighth-best odds of finishing on top, trailing Georgia (+300), Ohio State (+440), Texas (+800), Oregon (+850), Alabama (+1400), Ole Miss (+1500) and LSU (+1700).