The post Penn State football earns top spot in insider’s top 25 appeared first on ClutchPoints.
The Penn State football team has a ton of hype coming into the 2025 season as a lot of people expect the Nittany Lions to be right in the thick of the national title conversation when the season is nearing its end. Penn State is returning its QB, and a lot of other NFL talent decided to come back for one more year to chase a national championship. The Coaches Poll was released on Monday, and James Franklin and Penn State came in at No. 3. However, Fox analyst Joel Klatt has the Nittany Lions at #1 in his preseason top 25.
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With the college football season beginning in just a few weeks, it’s time for preseason top 25 rankings to begin rolling out. The AP Poll doesn’t come out until next week, but we already have a good idea of where the Penn State football team will be ranked. Joel Klatt has the Nittany Lions at No. 1, and it’s safe to assume they will be in the top-five when the AP Poll is released.
“My number one team in the country, as it was to end the spring is going to be Penn State,” Joel Klatt said during an episode of his podcast. “I’m huge on blueprints. Folks, you know this, and in the last two years, we have seen the blueprint that goes out there and wins the national championship, that is an experienced team with an experienced quarterback, with a lot of guys that come back. They spurn the NFL, they come back.”
Penn State made a good run last season as it went to the College Football Playoff and made it to the semifinals. The Nittany Lions were just a few plays away from going to the national championship, but they lost to Notre Dame. Now, they come back even stronger, looking to take the next step.
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“There’s a chip on their shoulder, there’s a tough loss in their rear view mirror, and they go out there, they right the ship, and they get it done. That’s Penn State,” Klatt continued. “Quarterback Drew Allar, returning. Both running backs, Kaytron Allen, Nick Singleton, back. Four guys on the offensive line, back. You’ve got defensive players all over, including Dani Dennis-Sutton, back. They brought in three wide receivers. This was their major problem last year, is that their wide receivers were not close to good enough. They brought in three of them.”
The wide receiver issue for Penn State last year was real. Only two WRs scored multiple touchdowns on the season, but these transfer portal additions should go a long way.
“They’re all going to be solid,” Klatt stated. “Kyron Hudson from USC, Trebor Pena, the All-ACC slot receiver from Syracuse, Devonte Ross, the All-Sun Belt receiver from Troy. All those guys are an upgrade. So now the big question is, can James Franklin get over the hump of those big games?”
You might think that James Franklin got over the hump last season since he made it to the College Football Playoff semifinals. Well, the Nittany Lions didn’t actually do anything different compared to past years. They had two tough games before the playoff, and they lost them both. Penn State beat a couple of lesser opponents in the CFP, and then lost when they faced the tough challenge against Notre Dame. James Franklin needs to find a way to win those big games. The Nittany Lions benefited from the new system last year, but they still need to get over the hump.
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“They’re going to have Oregon at home. They’ve got to go to Ohio State. They’re probably going to play for the Big Ten title again,” Klatt concluded. “They’re going to be in CFP games. And last year, as good as the season was, they weren’t able to get over that hump. They they didn’t beat Ohio State, they didn’t beat Oregon. Their two playoff wins were against SMU and Boise. Then they get beat by Notre Dame. So they’re going to have to match up with someone that they are maybe not as good as or similar to, and beat them, which we haven’t seen from Penn State over the last few years.”
The Penn State football team has one of the best squads in college football, but in order to achieve their goals, James Franklin has to figure out how to win big games.
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