Penn State football officially kicks off the 2025 season on Wednesday, when it holds its first full-squad preseason practice of its fall camp. PSU players reported back to campus on Tuesday, after a short break from a summer full of conditioning, small group work with their position coaches and informal team-member workouts.
Now, it gets real.
The Nittany Lions’ ultimate goal is 173 days and 1,246 miles away: The College Football Playoff title game on Jan. 19, 2026, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. The contest, to be televised on ESPN, will pit the Fiesta Bowl champion vs. the Peach Bowl Champion. (Both are semifinal contests.)
A win in the CFP championship game would give Penn State football its first national championship since 1986. It’s time to put up or shut up, James Franklin — who begins Season No. 12 as Penn State’s head coach — said last week at the Big Ten media days in Las Vegas when quizzed about his poor record vs. Top 5 teams.
“…We’re in total control of it, right?” Franklin said. “If we want the narrative to change, we got an opportunity to change it. If we want people to shut up, we can shut them up real easy. We embrace it all.”
WHAT LIES AHEAD FOR PENN STATE
Here is what the Nittany Lions face along the way over the next 25 or so weeks — nearly half a year:
PREASEASON PRACTICES: According to NCAA rules, teams can practice 25 times over 29 days leading up to their first game of the season. For Penn State, that’s Aug. 30 vs. Nevada in a Beaver Stadium that is undergoing massive renovations. Seven of the 25 practices must be held with helmets only. Penn State will hold a couple of scrimmages before the opener, though they may not all be in Beaver Stadium.
VETERAN SQUAD: Penn State returns 14 starters — nine on offense, led by quarterback Drew Allar and running back Nick Singleton, and five on defense, paced by end Dani Dennis-Sutton, tackle Zane Durant and safety Zakee Wheatley. The Nittany Lions are bolstered by a quartet of high-profile transfers: linebacker Amare Campbell (North Carolina) and wide receivers Trebor Pena (Syracuse), Devonte Ross (Troy) and Kyron Hudson (USC).
MEET THE PRESS: Penn State Football Media Day is scheduled for this Saturday, beginning in Beaver Stadium with Franklin’s press conference. Afterwards, coordinators Jim Knowles (defense), Andy Kotelnicki (offense) and Justin Lustig (special teams) will meet the press, also at the stadium. Later, the media will have the opportunity to interview individual players at Holuba Hall and then watch a few periods of practice at the Lasch practice fields. Team Photo and Position/Group Photo Day will be held at Beaver Stadium on Aug. 16.
CLASSES: Penn State begins classes on Monday, Aug. 25 — the week of the season-opener. There is a growing trend among players to take more classes online.
BEAVER STADIUM: Temporary upper deck bleachers on the west side are still being put into place. Still. In all, there will be more than 7,000 temporary seats. In addition to those, fans will notice new concession stands, wider concourses, expansion of gates A and E, and additional entry points for ticketing and security.
ASSOCIATED PRESS RANKINGS: This is the granddaddy of them all, established in 1936. The AP, featuring dozens of media voters throughout the country, will release its defining college football preseason poll on Monday, Aug. 11. Most preseason polls and experts have Penn State ranked in the Top 5. A few have the Nittany Lions No. 1.
Where you start doesn’t necessarily determine where you’ll finish, as Franklin pointed out last week: “It’s a great conversation, but who really cares about preseason rankings? They mean nothing. It’s a good argument to have and everybody has fun with it, but the only rankings that matter are the ones that happen at the end of the season, and that’s what we’re concerned about.”
For instance, in 1982 Penn State was ranked No. 8 in the AP preseason poll and ended up No. 1. And in 1986, when the Nittany Lions again won the national championship, they were ranked No. 6 in the preseason.
CFP RANKINGS: These are the rankings that really matter. The first rankings released by the College Football Playoff selection committee will likely be on the first Tuesday of November — just days after the Ohio State-Penn State game. In all, the committee will release six sets of rankings on a weekly basis, culminating in the rankings being released on Sunday, Dec. 7 — the day after the Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis. These rankings will determine seeding and first-round byes. Unlike last year, conference champions are not guaranteed a first-round bye.
THE SCHEDULE: Penn State does not play a road game until Oct. 4 at UCLA in the Rose Bowl Stadium. That’s five weeks into the season and 66 days from the first day of practice. There are 136 teams in the FBS, and according to Bill Connelly of ESPN and his SP+ rankings, Penn State’s season-opening opponent, Nevada, ranks No. 124, and second-week foe FIU is No. 129. (Penn State is No. 3.) Week 3 opponent Villanova on Sept. 13 is in the FCS.
Then there’s…the WhiteOut on Sept. 27 vs. visiting Oregon at 7:30 p.m. on NBC and then what should be a Big Noon showdown vs. the Buckeyes in The Horseshoe on Nov. 1. Overall, Penn State has seven home games and five away contests. Five of the last eight regular season games on the road, at UCLA (2,561 miles from Beaver Stadium), Iowa (777), Ohio State (328), Michigan State (455) and Rutgers (234).
Interesting visitors to Beaver Stadium in 2025: Nebraska, coached by State College native and former PSU linebacker Matt Rhule; and Oregon, bankrolled in (large) part by Nike founder Phil Knight, who will very likely make the trip to Happy Valley.
