Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1535618
J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 2 5 5 5 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M O ne by one, post-spring college football top 25s have been popping up all over the internet the past few weeks, and … well … let's just say Penn State won't be sneaking up on anyone this year. The Nittany Lions have been at or near the top of every poll, from ESPN.com (No. 1) to CBSSports.com (No. 3) to On3 (No. 4). "After finally turning the cor- ner under coach James Franklin in 2024, the Nittany Lions look loaded for bear," noted ESPN's Mark Schlabach, summing up the national consensus regard- ing Franklin's 2025 team. There's a lot to be said for commanding the attention of the national commentariat. Such rankings are, after all, a show of respect for what Franklin has been building toward since 2014, when he and his staff arrived in the aftermath of the NCAA's devastating sanctions. However, there's also some- thing to be said for sneaking up on peo- ple. That's exactly what the Nittany Li- ons did two decades ago in a season that re-established the program as a national power in the twilight of the Joe Paterno era. New And Improved In the summer of 2005, Penn State was desperate to escape from the first prolonged downturn of Paterno's career. The Nittany Lions had gone 26-33 from 2000-04, with only one winning season and no bowl victories in that five-year span. They had won only four games in 2004, thanks primarily to an offense that didn't scare anybody on the outside. In nine games against Power Five oppo- nents, PSU averaged 12.2 points. The Lions had shown signs of life in season-ending wins over Indiana (22- 18) and Michigan State (37-13), but that wasn't enough to inspire the pollsters' confidence heading into the 2005 season. Penn State went into its opener against the University of South Florida unranked in either of the two major polls. Nation- alChamps.net picked the Lions to win seven games and, in doing so, pondered a question that was on many minds: "As is the case every season, we wonder if this is it for Paterno." It wasn't, of course. What the skeptics missed was that Penn State had upgraded its offense substan- tially. After three years of trying to find novel ways to use Michael Robinson, the Lions stationed him full time at the position he had been recruited to play — quarterback — and watched him develop into a Heisman Trophy contender. What's more, a lackluster wide receiver corps, perhaps the team's most glaring prob- lem during its swoon of the early 2000s, had been bolstered by the arrival of elite recruit Der- rick Williams and the quick de- velopment of two other fresh- man-eligible wideouts — Jordan Norwood and Deon Butler, the latter having arrived at PSU as a walk-on defensive back. As for the defense, it had been a bright spot the previous year thanks to the presence of such future pros as linebackers Paul Posluszny and Dan Connor and edge rusher Tamba Hali, and it only got stronger with the arrival of an- other young star, linebacker Sean Lee. Don't Call It A Comeback Penn State opened by outscoring its three nonconference opponents — South Florida, Cincinnati and Central Michi- gan — by a combined margin of 105-40. But if there was an early-season turning point, it came in a back-and-forth battle in front of 24,395 fans at Northwestern. With the Lions trailing by two points in the final minutes of their Big Ten opener, tight end Isaac Smolko made a play that in retrospect looks like one of the more consequential moments of Pa- terno's last decade on the sideline. PSU COURSE CORRECTION Twenty years ago, PSU returned to the national spotlight with one of Joe Paterno's greatest seasons M AT T H E R B | M AT T. H E R B @ O N 3 . C O M Linebacker Paul Posluszny was named a team captain prior to the 2005 season, becoming the first Penn State junior since Mike Reid and Steve Smear in 1968 to receive that honor. PHOTO COURTESY PENN STATE ATHLETICS