Veteran college football analyst Gary Danielson, who is calling Penn State’s season-opener vs. Nevada for CBS at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, knows his Nittany Lions. He also knows how to nit-pick them with a critical eye.
Danielson worked four of their road games for CBS last season — some tight ones, too. The 33-30 OT win over USC. The Reynolds 26-25 wrap of the Gophers at Minnesota. And the 45-37 loss to Oregon in the Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis.
And Danielson, a former quarterback for Purdue in the early 1970s — he married the daughter of the Boilermakers’ athletic director at the time, George King — also broadcast the Nittany Lions’ 49-10 roll-over of his alma mater in West Lafayette. “And,” as Danielson made a point of telling me, “I saw all of their playoff games on TV, too.”
Danielson likes what he sees out of Penn State in 2025. He thinks quarterback Drew Allar, the new PSU receivers and the Nittany Lion coordinators all have what it takes to lead Penn State, 13-3 last season, to the next level and possibly a national championship. In fact, Danielson thinks that defensive coordinator “Jim Knowles could be that final piece.”
Danielson should know. He’s spent over a third of a century as one of the top analysts on network television, with stints at ESPN (1990-96), ABC (1997-05) and CBS (2006-2025). When CBS got part of the Big Ten’s television package beginning last season, in turn the Big Ten got the top-notch team of Danielson, play-by-play announcer Brad Nessler and sideline reporter Jenny Dell.
Danielson played 13 years in the NFL — nine with his hometown Detroit Lions and four in Cleveland. When he retired, Danielson was No. 3 in Lions’ history for passing yards, completions and passing TDs, trailing only the legendary Bobby Layne and Greg Landry, who Danielson eventually beat out for the starting job.
During his press conference on Monday, Penn State coach James Franklin acknowledged Danielson’s TV career: “I want to give a shout-out to Gary Danielson, who will be here with CBS this Saturday, his 36th and final season. Pretty cool to be able to have him come back.”
On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to chat with Danielson via a good old-fashioned phone call. (With my own shoutout to PSU alum and State College townie Jeff Szklinski, who does PR for CBS Sports and who made the interview happen.) I asked Danielson for his set of four key observations when it comes to analyzing the 2025 Nittany Lions.
Danielson’s four downs follow. Consider this a preview of what the former QB might bring up in the booth and on-air during Saturday’s broadcast.
FOUR DOWNS ON PSU
First down: The Confidence Factor — “The area that kept them from winning it all last year was just not that the receivers were inferior players. It was that the coaching staff, the play-calling and the receivers themselves lost confidence in their game. When they really needed it in a couple key areas, I really felt like the quarterback and the receivers did not have that connection you need to have to make those big plays at the end of the game.”
Second down: It’s a Stretch — “I think [offensive coordinator] Andy Kotelnicki understood that for them to win last year, he could do it with the tight ends and running backs and kind of hide what he believed was a deficiency. I think this year, Andy needs to stretch it — even if he doesn’t need it. I think he needs to know that sooner or later, ‘I’m going to need that. And I know these wide receivers are a little better on paper.’ Even in games where Andy doesn’t need to stretch the field, I think he has to be willing to use it and maybe risk a turnover or a tight throw in a game that you don’t need to do it. That way, he’ll know what he has. That will help him down the line when he needs to do it.”
Third down: Next Level Drew — “I expect Drew to take the next step. I’ve seen it with senior quarterbacks before. Will Howard did it last year [at Ohio State, which won the national championship]. JJ McCarthy, there was a big difference when he was a junior and then when he was a senior [at Michigan, which won the national title in 2023]. Going back, there’s Joe Burrow at LSU. Nobody thought Joe was a No. 1 draft pick after his junior year.
“And then going even further back — and I think this is a connection that I’m going to use during the game on Saturday — we can set it up going all the way back to Kerry Collins. The jump he made between the 1993 season and the 1994 season was when he became big. I think Joe [Paterno] thought that was his best team ever, in 1994. And I agree. This could be the same scenario where what happens with Drew is true to what happened with Kerry Collins in 1994.”
Fourth down: In Jim We Trust — “I think Jim Knowles could be that final piece. I’ve experienced it myself and I’ve seen it up close. For example, when Steve Spurrier called the team over in Florida with a minute and 20 to go and called the play — whether the play was a good call or not — the 11 guys believed it was the right call, because Spurrier called it. When Nick Saban made those adjustments at Alabama with good players, if Nick called it, it’s got to be right. There’s that little edge of the players believing in the coach.
“I think there’s good players at Penn State. I believe that belief is the thing that Jim’s going to bring to this team two or three times in the year. Because no matter how good this team is, there’s going to be those two or three games — just like the Illinois game for Penn State in 1994 — where you got to make a clutch play. And will that clutch play come on defense? It could, because the team gets in the huddle and they go, ‘Coach Knowles knows what to call here. Let’s go out there and do it.’”
