Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1537537
1 8 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 / / / / / / / 2 0 2 5 F O O T B A L L P R E V I E W / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / SHOOTING SHOOTING STARS STARS Led by its corps of elite returnees, Penn State takes aim at a championship in 2025 M A T T H E R B | M AT T. H E R B @ O N 3 . C O M T he pain was a long way from subsiding when James Franklin, Drew Allar and Nicholas Single- ton filed into the media room at Hard Rock Stadium after facing Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff semifinals last January. Penn State had just lost, 27-24, in a back-and-forth game decided by one last momentum swing that went the Irish's way. First came an interception, then a field goal, then a frantic and futile offensive play. Just like that, the longest, winningest season in 138 years of Penn State football was over. It was hard to find anything hopeful to say after such an abrupt ending, and at first it seemed as though Franklin wasn't in a mood to try. "We're all hurting," he conceded to the assembled reporters. "It ain't easy to get in here right after the game and have a conversation after you just poured your guts out on that field, and really did it all year long." In that moment, it wasn't difficult to imagine Franklin and his players wish- ing they could be literally anywhere else. And yet, the Nittany Lions' head coach is optimistic by nature, so it wasn't long before the first rays of sunlight began to poke through the gloom. "There are a lot of young guys in that