College football Top 25: No. 2 Penn State hoping to take step forward from 2024 and play for national title

College football officially begins this month.

Now that it’s mid-August, there’s just over a week until Kansas State and Iowa State meet in Dublin to begin the 2025 regular season. And since the season is quickly approaching, we’re rolling out our preseason Top 25.

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Next up in our rankings is the No. 2 team, and the No. 1 team will be revealed Friday. (All odds are from BetMGM.)

Previously: Nos. 11 through 25, No. 10 Miami, No. 9 Alabama, No. 8 Notre Dame, No. 7 LSU, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 5 Georgia, No. 4 Oregon, No. 3 Texas

No. 2 Penn State

• National championship odds: +700

• Odds to make College Football Playoff: -300

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2024 in 100 words

The Nittany Lions won every game they were favored in and lost every game they were underdogs in. OK, we’ll go deeper than that. Penn State started the season 7-0 with a 14-point win over Illinois and a 33-30 road overtime win at USC. But the Nittany Lions couldn’t get to 8-0 thanks to a 20-13 home loss to Ohio State. The Buckeyes were yet another thorn in Penn State’s side.

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But Ohio State gave Penn State a gift at the end of the season with a loss to Michigan. That left the Nittany Lions needing to beat Maryland — and they did, 44-7 — for a spot in the Big Ten title game. There, Penn State lost to Oregon, 45-37.

PSU smothered SMU to open the College Football Playoff and then easily dispatched Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl before losing 27-24 to Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff semifinal as a 1-point underdog.

The quarterback

Allar posted the best season of his Penn State career in 2024 thanks to a scheme change. In 2023, Allar completed just under 60% of his passes for 2,631 yards and 25 TDs. He threw only two interceptions, but averaged fewer than 7 yards a pass attempt.

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Penn State brought in former Kansas co-offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki to run the offense and Allar’s numbers improved a year ago. He completed two-thirds of his passes for 3,327 yards and 24 TDs. His interceptions quadrupled to eight, but he also averaged 8.4 yards a throw.

There are still a few questions about Allar against top competition, however. In 2023, he completed less than half his passes in losses to Ohio State, Michigan and Ole Miss while throwing for just 70 yards against the Wolverines. In 2024, he didn’t have a game with a completion percentage south of 50% … but he threw for just 146 yards against the Buckeyes, 127 yards against SMU, 171 yards against Boise State and 135 yards against Notre Dame.

To be fair, Allar also wasn’t needed to carry the offense in the College Football Playoff. SMU’s turnovers gave Penn State short fields and the team’s run game was dominant in the postseason. Penn State rushed for at least 189 yards in each of its final four games.

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But if Allar is going to put together a Heisman-worthy season and show why he can be a first-round pick, it’d be great to see him seize a game against a top-flight opponent. Especially with better receivers on the roster in 2025.

Non-QB to watch

Tyler Warren was Penn State’s leading receiver in 2024 with 104 catches for 1,233 yards. The tight end did everything because Penn State didn’t have a go-to wide receiver. Harrison Wallace was the team’s leading receiver with 46 grabs for 720 yards. He’s gone too, and no other receiver had more than 21 catches in 2024.

Enter Pena, who should be Allar’s top target in 2025. The Syracuse transfer is entering his sixth season of college football after redshirting due to injury in 2023. In 2024, Pena had 84 grabs for 941 yards and nine TDs. That was quadruple the number of catches last year than any receiver returning to Penn State’s roster in 2025.

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In addition to Pena, the Nittany Lions also added Kyron Hudson from USC. He had 38 catches for 462 yards and three scores with the Trojans last season.

Best position group

The Nittany Lions boast the top returning running back duo in the country, with Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen both electing to return to school in 2025. Allen just barely led Singleton in rushing yards last year with 1,108 to Singleton’s 1,099, but Singleton had 12 rushing scores to go along with five receiving TDs while Allen had 10 total touchdowns.

If Penn State makes another deep postseason run, the duo could easily match or top those numbers. Four starters return on one of the best offensive lines in the country as well.

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Biggest game

The rematch with Oregon at home on Sept. 27 will be huge, but Ohio State has bossed Penn State for much of James Franklin’s tenure with the team. Penn State’s last win over the Buckeyes came in 2016 and the offense has mustered just 25 combined points over the last two matchups.

Penn State signed away defensive coordinator Jim Knowles from Ohio State in the offseason, and he’ll be very familiar with the personnel and tendencies that Ohio State will have on the offensive side of the ball ahead of the matchup in Columbus.

Why Penn State is No. 2

Knowles became the highest-paid defensive coordinator in college football when he moved to State College. The Pennsylvania native said during the spring that he’d have stayed at Ohio State had the school offered him a new contract earlier. But he didn’t have a new deal ahead of Ohio State’s title game win over Notre Dame, so he made the choice to contact Penn State after former defensive coordinator and Indiana head coach Tom Allen took the DC job at Clemson.

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Ohio State has boasted one of the best defenses in the country under Knowles’ watch and Penn State should again field another unit that is one of the stingiest in college football, even with some reinforcements needed. The Nittany Lions need to replace No. 3 overall NFL Draft pick Abdul Carter and his 12 sacks and 23.5 tackles for loss along with leading tacklers Jaylen Reed and Kobe King.

But Zakee Wheatley is back at free safety along with corner AJ Harris. Edge rusher Dani Dennis-Sutton also returns after he had 8.5 sacks. Finding a second pass rusher to pair with him is paramount.

Khalil Dinkins and Luke Reynolds have big shoes to fill at tight end with Warren’s departure, but the wide receiving group’s improvement should more than make up for any drop-off at that position. Thanks to a conference schedule that’s one of the most manageable in the Big Ten, Penn State has a very good chance to challenge for the No. 1 overall seed in the College Football Playoff.