Penn State football has lofty expectations for the 2025 campaign, and that was evident again on Monday with the release of the annual preseason Big Ten media poll.
The veteran-led Nittany Lion team narrowly edged Ohio State as the favorite to win the conference regular season title, garnering 11 first-place votes from 25 Big Ten media members in the 15th annual Cleveland.com poll.
It is the first time Penn State has been the poll’s projected No. 1 in James Franklin’s 12-year tenure and since Cleveland.com took over the preseason polling of conference media members.
Last year’s preseason favorite, Ohio State was picked as the runner-up with 10 first-place votes. Defending Big Ten champion Oregon placed third and had one first-place vote, while Illinois was picked fourth and Michigan, with one first-place vote, was fifth.
The Nittany Lions will host Oregon in the annual White Out game on Sept. 27 for their first true test of the season, a rematch of last year Big Ten Championship Game won by the Ducks.
Penn State travels to Ohio State on Nov. 1 when it will look for its first win against the Buckeyes in nine tries and first victory at the Horseshoe since 2011.
Coming off a trip to the College Football Playoff semifinals, the Nittany Lions enter the 2025 season with national championship aspirations. (Several post-spring national preseason rankings slotted Penn State at No. 1 or otherwise in the top five.)
A host of key players announced during the winter they would return to the Nittany Lions in 2025, led by quarterback Drew Allar, who enters his third season at the helm of the offense. The star running back duo of Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, both of whom rushed for 1,000 yards last year and are in striking distance of the school’s career rushing record, are also back after forgoing the NFL Draft for one more shot at a title.
Other top returnees who could have entered the draft include defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton, defensive tackle Zane Durant, cornerback AJ Harris, safety Zakee Wheatley and center Nick Dawkins.
The Nittany Lions also welcomed several transfer portal additions, most notably three players who will look to lead a revamped wide receiver corps: Trebor Pena, Kyron Hudson and Devonte Ross.
Penn State will kick off the season at 3:30 p.m. on Aug. 30 in an under-renovation Beaver Stadium against Nevada.
Beat writers covering all 18 Big Ten teams, along with league-wide and national reporters, voted in the preseason poll, The poll, which has been run by Cleveland.com since the conference discontinued it in 2010, was released ahead of Big Ten Media Days, which take place Tuesday through Thursday in Las Vegas.
BIG TEN PRESEASON MEDIA POLL
1 Penn State (11) 435 2 Ohio State (10) 431 3 Oregon (2) 405 4 Illinois 353 5 Michigan (1) 346 6 Indiana 305 7 Iowa 287 8 Nebraska 277 9 USC 269 10 Washington 216 11 Minnesota 192 12 Wisconsin 159 13 Michigan State 135 13 Rutgers 135 15 UCLA 134 16 Maryland 91 17 Northwestern 65 18 Purdue 39
