Forget about the high hopes for Penn State football in the 2023 season. What will things look like in 2025? With the college football landscape set to undergo some massive changes in 2024 with the next big wave of realignment shifts and the dawn of the expanded College Football Playoff era, now is a critical point in time for programs in preparing for long-term success in the future.
247Sports put together a ranking of the top 25 programs by the time 2025 comes around, and Penn State looks to be in a solid position to be a legitimate playoff contender. But will the Nittany Lions be ready to be considered a true national championship contender? That’s where some work may still need to be done.
Penn State ranks ninth in the 247Sports top 25 predictions for 2025, and they are labeled as an expanded playoff contender in both 2024 and 2025. As for the 2023 season, the last year with a four-team College Football Playoff format, Penn State may have to settle for just being a top-10 team.
Here is what 247Sports had to say about Penn State and their future three-year outlook for the program on the national radar;
It’s going to be difficult for Penn State to overcome Michigan and Ohio State in the same season. But the Nittany Lions are still my favorite national dark horse for 2023. This team has a bit of everything. There are potential 2024 first round picks on both sides of the ball (OT Olu Fashanu, CB Kalen King), strong line play and the hope that 2022 five-star QB Drew Allar can unlock the offense in a way Sean Clifford was unable to before him. But Penn State fans must feel even better looking toward 2024 and 2025. That’s when an underclassman core that includes Allar, superstar running back Nick Singleton, defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton, linebacker Abdul Carter and others should mature and make PSU a legitimate CFB Playoff threat.
And with the Big Ten considering eliminating divisions come 2024, PSU’s path will be even friendlier without annual Big Ten East roadblocks in Ann Arbor and Columbus. By the way, Penn State is recruiting well again. The Nittany Lions have landed in the top 13 nationally in back-to-back years after failing to do so for the 2021 and 2020 cycles. Given that the Big Ten is also likely to benefit from multiple teams in the CFB Playoff annually under the new format, PSU is set to peak at a very good time. The Nittany Lions could easily go on a run the next three years.
This comment brings up a good point. With the Big Ten moving toward a new approach to how it will crown a Big Ten champion, it may actually be easier for Penn State to reach the Big Ten championship game than it has under the current division structure. It is worth noting that Penn State would only have qualified for one Big Ten championship in the conference championship game era if divisions were scrapped, and it would have been the one season Penn State did play for and win the Big Ten championship game in 2016, although it would have been paired against Ohio State in a rematch instead of facing Wisconsin.
And whether or not it is actually easier for Penn State to crack the Big Ten championship game remains to be seen. As USC and UCLA enter the conference in 2024, and with the scheduling format there is no guarantee Penn State will be in the top two on a regular basis enough to suggest it will be easier to get into the Big Ten championship game.
But Penn State’s recruiting efforts have consistently been among the best in the conference under James Franklin, especially in recent years.
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