OK, the party’s over. Penn State football’s preseason schedule of essentially home exhibition games against three non-Power 4 teams, and very non-powerful opponents, has ended with the Nittany Lions 3-0.
Counting their 52-6 victory over Villanova in Beaver Stadium on Saturday, the Nittany Lions manhandled their opening three foes 132-17. Now, it’s those opponents’ turn to play the likes of Kennesaw State, Sacred Heart and Stony Brook.
Penn State, meanwhile, has next week off, so all eyes in Lasch and on campus are on Saturday, Sept. 27, and the 7:30 p.m. matchup with visiting Oregon in a Beaver Stadium WhiteOut on NBC. Former Nittany Lion quarterback Todd Blackledge, who guided Penn State to its first national championship in 1982, will be on NBC’s call with Noah Eagle.
It could very well be No. 2 Penn State vs. No. 4 Oregon. (No. 1 Ohio State doesn’t play again until Sept. 27 at Washington. And No. 3 LSU is at SE Louisiana next week — so, like Penn State, it essentially has a bye.)
The Ducks, who are 3-0 after winning 34-14 at Northwestern on Saturday, don’t have it quite as easy. They host Oregon State in an in-state rivalry game that goes back to 1894. The Beavers are 0-3, having lost by a combined 115-56, so the odds of an undefeated showdown between the two Big Ten titans are pretty high.
With that as a backdrop, let’s do a quick assessment of where the Nittany Lions are heading into their bye weekend then their Duck Week, with a bit of a Big Game Preview:
COUNTDOWN TO THE WHITEOUT
1. Post-game, James Franklin was mostly upbeat about and confident in his team — as he has been since March, though there were some stated misgivings about his offense (see No. 3). To wit:
+ “I do think we’re playing winning football.”
+ “Overall, I’ve been pleased with how we’re playing. “
+ “I thought our defense significantly took a step this week, just more confidence, more command, more control of the defense.”
2. Penn State DC Jim Knowles is as good as advertised. Purely in points allowed, Penn State’s opening three-game string is as good as a Knowles defense has ever been. “And,” as Franklin said last Monday, “just in terms of with Jim, ultimately, it’s about points.”
In 180 minutes of Penn State football in 2025, albeit against lesser competition while playing at home, Knowles’ D has given up just 17 points. Six of those came on the final play of the game on Saturday — on an extraordinary scramble-and-one-handed-catch from ‘Nova QB Tanner Maddocks to wide receiver Brandon Binkowski that took place a few feet from me.
2a. A Franklin defense has given up fewer points in a three-game stretch only once in his 12 seasons and 146 games at PSU. And that was 14 points in 2017 — against Akron (52-0), Pitt (33-14) and Georgia State (56-0).
2b. Points-wise, it has been the stingiest Knowles’ defense over a three-game stretch. Ever. Which is saying something for Knowles, who is touted as the top defensive coordinator in college football after coming from Ohio State in the offseason. Knowles was the DC at Western Michigan (2 years), Duke (8), Oklahoma State (4) and Ohio State (3), and the head coach at Cornell (6). The fewest points his D ever gave up in three consecutive games was 20. That happened twice in 2024 — including the OSU-PSU game — and once in 2023 with the Buckeyes, and once at Oklahoma State (2021).
2c. Coincidentally, Knowles has called defensive signals against Nittany Lion offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki two times: in Ohio State’s 20-13 over Penn State last year, and a 55-3 Oklahoma State rout of Kansas in 2021, when Coach K was OC.
3. Knowles knows the Ducks. (And they know him.) Knowles was 1-1 vs. Oregon while at Ohio State in 2024, with the Ducks scoring a total of 53 points in two games against the Buckeyes. In a regular season game in Eugene on Oct. 13, 2024, the Ducks came back from a 28-22 fourth-quarter deficit to win, 32-31. Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel (since graduated) completed 23 of 34 passes for 341 yards and two TDs, plus ran for a 27-yard score in the final quarter. In a CFP rematch in the Rose Bowl, Ohio State jumped out to a 34-0 lead late in the third quarter, then held on to win 41-21.
4. Coach K still has some fixing to do with the Penn State offense, as Franklin was the first to point out after the game: “Offensively, we’ve just been inconsistent. We have to improve on third down. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. Then we got to be just more explosive overall.”
5. Too many senior moments. Quarterback Drew Allar and running back, Nick Singleton — who Franklin said were “overthinking” last week — still seem out of sorts a good (or bad) amount of the time, especially for veterans with tons of experience, who were playing against FCS ‘Nova and not FBS kingpins Oregon and Ohio State. And thus, so did the PSU offense. Said Franklin: “We’re not getting into the rhythm that I think we are capable of getting in.”
Allar was a barely respectable 16 of 29 for 209 yards, with one TD and one horrible interception (a floater intended for Kaytron Allen) on Saturday, completing just 55% of his passes. Allar was oh-for-5 when on third-down passing attempts.
Singleton got twice as many carries as Allen — 20 to 10 — but ran for two fewer yards (86 to 84). Though he denied it post-game, Franklin was clearly trying to get Singleton going after a slow start in the first two games. Midway through the first half, Singleton already had 12 carries while Allen had just one. Through three games Allen has 94 more yards rushing than Singleton on seven fewer carries. The 2025 numbers for Allar and Singleton, against clearly inferior competition:
ALLAR
Nevada — 22-26 (74.6%), 217 yds., 1 TD, 167.4 efficiency rating
FIU — 189-33 (57.6%), 200, 2 TDs, 128.5
Villanova — 16-29 (55%), 209, 1 TD, 1 Int., 120.2
SINGLETON
Nevada — 8-19 (2.4 yards per carry), 2 TDs
FIU — 13-76 (5.8), 1 TD
Villanova — 20-84 (4.2), 2 TDs
6. Quite the stadium tour for Oregon in 2024. Oregon’s win over Northwestern — aided, in part, by a pair of short-field drives following Duck picks — came in the 12,023-seat Martin Stadium, overlooking Lake Michigan. It’s a temporary venue to the nth degree, as the $860 million Ryan Field is being constructed. It was a very far cry from Oregon’s typically loud Autzen Stadium. And, obviously it was unlike the nighttime WhiteOut that Oregon will face in two weeks, with an expected 110,000+ fans in raucous Beaver Stadium.
But, expect Oregon coach Dan Lanning to handle questions about the WhiteOut the way he did about lakeside football. He was on-Lanning brand — confident, honest: “I think the field’s still gonna be the same size. Also, that’s what you focus on, right? It’s definitely a different environment, but I’ve coached in some of those.”
6a. I’m saying 110k+, because on Saturday the Beaver Stadium attendance was announced at 109,516. (That’s tickets sold, not fans in seats.) And there definitely were not that many people; probably 10k less than that. Stated capacity for Beaver Stadium for 2025 as it goes through renovations is 106,304 (a tad below the normal 106,572). Expect an alltime Top 10 crowd vs. the Ducks. No. 1 alltime attendance is 111,030 (Ohio State, 2024), while a very-achievable No. 10 is 101,134 (Ohio State, 2007). A number in that range would point to Penn State and Pat Kraft’s ability to go about their business while undergoing a massive, multi-year renovation.
7. Oregon has been to Beaver Stadium once before, on Oct. 3, 1964. Capacity back then was 46,284, and the announced crowd that day was 44,803. Penn State, coached by Rip Engle and solo-captained by Bill Bowes, lost 22-14.
7a. From the New York Times’ Associated Press account of the game: UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., Oct. 3 (AP)—Bob Berry passed for three touchdowns today and gained 208 yards in the air as unbeaten Oregon rallied to defeat Penn State, 22-14. The loss marked the first time a Penn State football team had dropped its first three games of the season.
Berry tossed touchdown passes of 1, 6 and 15 yards as the Webfoots posted their third straight victory and their seventh in a row from last season. Penn State lost six fumbles, four in the third quarter when Oregon made its last two touchdowns. Berry completed 17 of 32 passes in raising his career total for completions to 198, breaking the old mark of 195 at Oregon set by George Shaw between 1932 and 1954.
7b. Penn State is 3-2 alltime against the Ducks. In the Nittany Lions’ only trip to Eugene, in 1963, they won 17-7. PSU quarterback Pete Liske completed 91.7% of his passes, still a Penn State single-game record for efficiency. Liske’s QB coach? Joe Paterno.
8. Interesting sub-plot: Nike vs. Adidas. Oregon is Nike’s flagship college football partner, as Nike founder Phil Knight went to Oregon, where he was a distance runner and has repaid his alma mater over and over again. The Ducks, from their shoes and uniforms to their NIL, are well-stocked. As of July 1, 2026, Penn State will not be a Nike school for the first time since 1993. It was a longstanding partnership that had its roots in the close friendship between Knight and Paterno. With all due respect to Tennessee, Penn State will be the No. 1 Adidas school.
8a. Prior to Nike’s…er, Oregon’s…game against Oklahoma State earlier this season, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy complained about Oregon’s spending power: “I think Oregon spent close to $40 [million] last year alone. So, that was just one year. Now, I might be off a few million. But Oregon is paying a lot, a lot of money for their team.”
Lanning’s response: “If you want to be a top-10 team in college football, you better be invested in winning. We spend to win. Some people have to have an excuse for why they don’t. …I can’t speak on their situation; I have no idea what they got in their pockets over there.”
Postscript: Oregon 69, Oklahoma State 3.
8b. Will Uncle Phil (net worth: $34.1 billion, according to Forbes) be in the house for the White Out? He is 87 and fully retired from Nike. If so, it would make for great theatre and a very interesting sub-plot.
9. Some big landmark numbers at the White Out: I reported on this a few weeks ago, but they are so intriguing I think they bear repeating here, in full context now with the White Out on the horizon: Penn State has now played 408 games in Beaver Stadium since 1960. PSU is 326-82-0 (79.9%) in Beaver Stadium. The White Out will be game No. 409. Franklin enters the Oregon game with 104 career victories at Penn State. He is now tied with Engle for second all-time wins as a Penn State football head coach. A victory over the Ducks would give CJF 105 victories, and the No. 2 spot behind Paterno (at 409) outright.
10. There are plenty of reasons to watch out for Oregon in two weeks. Here are two reasons to watch the Ducks now:
10a. State College townie and Penn State alum Scott Anderson — who was a neighbor of mine when he was a kid growing up, and later my student at Penn State — handles a big part of Oregon football’s stunning visual image. He is assistant director of videography and photography for Oregon football. As such, he creates and produces the popular “Ducks vs. Them” series, which has generated tens of millions of views. Here is the episode prior to last year’s Big Ten championship game; it is a goodie.
10b. After the Northwestern game, Lanning spoke about the current state of America. He began with, “The people in the U.S. could learn a lot from our locker room.” Well-said and thoughtful throughout, while walking a narrow political line. Watch it here.
