Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1537537
1 4 A U G U S T 2 0 2 5 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 1st Penn State's spot in Lindy's ranking of the nation's best backfields. "The Nittany Li- ons bring their hit-producing band back together with DREW ALLAR returning at quarterback and a pair of 1,000-yard rushers — Kay- tron Allen and Nicholas Sin- gleton," the preseason annual notes. "The Nittany Lions did lose red zone package extraordinaire Beau Pribula to Missouri, but Penn State is loaded in the backfield." Lindy's also has Penn State's offensive and defensive lines rated second nationally and its secondary ranked sixth. 3 Former Penn State play- ers who are favored to win major NFL individual honors in 2025, according to the odds- makers at FanDuel Sports- book. After being named the As- sociated Press' NFL Offensive Player of the Year in 2024, Phil- adelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley is favored to repeat this fall, with his odds set at +500. On the opposite side of the ball, Dallas Cowboys defensive end Micah Parsons tops the list of potential AP Defensive Player of the Year honorees at +650. And one of Parsons' successors at Penn State, New York Giants defensive end Abdul Carter, is the favorite to be named AP Defensive Rookie of the Year at +250. 7 t h Athlon's ranking of Penn State's matchup with Oregon on Sept. 27 in its list of the season's best games. "Here's hoping we get a White Out for this conference championship rematch," the magazine noted. Ask, and you shall receive. Announced on May 29, the Ducks' first visit to Bea- ver Stadium since 1964 will indeed be a White Out, with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. on NBC. Penn State's visit to Ohio State on Nov. 1 is also on Athlon's list, coming in at No. 10. The season's best game, according to the preseason magazine, comes when the Buckeyes host Texas on Aug. 30. 7. 6 p e r c e n t Penn State's chances of winning the national cham- pionship according to ESPN's Football Power Index, a "predictive rating sys- tem" that takes into account personnel and schedule strength, then runs 20,000 simulated seasons. The FPI gives Penn State a 63.8 percent chance of making the College Football Playoff and assigns it a projected win total of 10.2. Texas is this year's favorite, with an 83.9 percent chance of making the playoff and a 22.2 percent chance of winning it. 8 t h Drew Allar's spot in the mock draft that ESPN's Jordan Reid is- sued in early May. Reid has Allar going to New Orleans early in the first round, noting that the senior quarterback "has prototypical size (6-5, 235 pounds) and every raw tool a coach could want." Reid has two other Nit- tany Lions going in the first round: senior defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton 15th to Arizona and junior cornerback A.J. Harris 18th to Minnesota. 1 2 t h Season for James Franklin as head coach at Penn State. Franklin goes into the 2025 campaign tied with three others — Jeff Monken of Army, Chris Creighton of Eastern Michigan and Chuck Martin of Miami (Ohio) — for the eighth-longest current coaching tenure in the FBS. Iowa's Kirk Ferentz leads the list, with his 27th season on the Hawkeyes' sideline ap- proaching. 4 5 . 5 Point spread, per FanDuel, for Penn State's season opener against Ne- vada on Aug. 30. The Nittany Lions are seven-touchdown favorites over the Wolf Pack, which finished 3-10 overall and 0-7 in the Mountain West Confer- ence last year. 9 4 3 All-time wins by the Penn State football team. The Nittany Lions, who played their first football season in 1887, head into the 2025 campaign ranked seventh in Divi- sion I/FBS history, trailing Michigan (1,012 wins), Ohio State (978), Alabama (974), Notre Dame (962), Texas (961) and Oklahoma (950). With a 943-412-41 record, the Lions are ninth in all-time winning percent- age at .690, just behind USC at .694. By The Numbers PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS