Penn State Sports Magazine
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A P R I L 2 0 2 5 5 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M O nce taboo in and around the Penn State football program under the leadership of head coach James Franklin, aspirations have entered the Nittany Lions' collective consciousness this offseason. Penn State reached the College Foot- ball Playoff semifinals last season. It lost to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl, 27- 24, and in the aftermath of that defeat, the team and its leaders set an unmistak- able intention. The Nittany Lions were determined to win a national champion- ship. "There are going to be a ton of guys coming back next year who are going to be hungry and are going to be motivated for more. They've gotten a taste of what this feels like and what it looks like and what it smells like," Franklin said mo- ments after the loss. "We'll all be better for it, including myself … because there are so many guys in that locker room who have a chance to come back and use this as fuel and experience to get back here next year and the years after that." Nearly three months have passed since Penn State saw its season end in Miami on Jan. 9, and a lot of college football watchers are buying into Franklin's vi- sion. Prior to the start of spring practice on March 25, ESPN data analyst Bill Connelly put the Nittany Lions in rari- fied air, ranking them third nationally using his analytics-based SP+ metric. Connelly's formula emphasizes three factors: returning production on the roster, recruiting proficiency and recent on-field success. Penn State received 25.3 points in his initial offering for the 2025 season, surpassing its previous high in 2023 when it ranked fifth with 24.4 points. Ohio State topped the SP+ rankings with 28.0 points, followed by Alabama with 26.1. Georgia (24.5) and Notre Dame (23.4) rounded out the top five, followed by Oregon (22.6), Texas (21.9), Tennessee (21.3), Ole Miss (20.2) and LSU (19.5). The Nittany Lions have conducted themselves accordingly this offseason. With spring practice now underway, the immediate objectives of daily personal and team-wide development have taken hold. In the midst of all that activity, a word of caution is warranted. While the Nit- tany Lions might believe themselves ca- pable of vying for a national title, much work remains. Starting on the offensive side of the ball, Year 2 for the collaboration between coordinator Andy Kotelnicki and senior quarterback Drew Allar should pay divi- dends. The Nittany Lions finished 66th in the FBS in passing offense last season with an average of 227.9 yards per game despite ranking 10th in passing efficiency with a 154.98 rating. Last year's top three pass-catchers have departed. Tight end Tyler Warren (104 catches for 1,233 yards and 8 TDs) is off to the NFL, while receivers Harrison Wallace III (46 for 720 and 4) and Omari Evans (21 for 415 and 5) have transferred, meaning that a new group of starters must quickly get acclimated with Allar. However, if the Nittany Lions' veteran offensive line and backfield can repro- duce their excellent 2024 campaign, scoring production should improve. The unit will likely need to boost its output, because there are challenges ahead on the opposite side of the ball. New coordinator Jim Knowles has ar- rived from Ohio State sparking high hopes for Penn State's defense. But in his previous career spots, his units typically fared better in Year 2 than in Year 1. The unit he inherited at PSU boasts plenty of high-end returning production but is relatively thin on experience. Those trends are reflected in Connel- ly's initial SP+ rankings, with Penn State placing fourth nationally on offense and seventh on defense. And then there are the special teams, which produced mixed results last year even with Ryan Barker taking charge of the placekicker position as a redshirt freshman. With winter workouts complete and spring football underway, Penn State will be focused for the next five months on making the kind of improvements that will enable it to finish the job it nearly ac- complished last year. "When the season ends the way it does, everybody's disappointed. No- body's more disappointed than the play- ers themselves and the coaches because of how much time and effort you put into it," Franklin said. "The most important thing for all of us is that we learn from it and grow from it, and that's what we're all doing. "I think this experience this year will be helpful. It's very similar to what you've seen with other programs. We understand what it's like. You have a plan, you have a routine, and you go back and do an after-action review about how things went as a program. The players do that as well. And then you attack it." Penn State is well into the "attack" stage of the process. Its success will dic- tate future results. ■ After reaching the College Football Playoff semifinals last season, coach James Franklin said he and his players "are going to be hungry and are going to be motivated for more." PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS O P I N I O N NATE BAUER NATE.BAUER@ON3.COM HOT READ It Will Take More Than Motivation To Win A Title