Category: Penn State Nittany Lions

Early Big Ten football power rankings reveal: Can Penn State get over the hump?

Penn State has enough talent to compete for the top spot in the Big Ten. Could they get over the hump in 2024?

It’s never too early for a “way too early” Big Ten power ranking! Things will change. Players will hurt the portal, players will transfer in, injuries will happen but for the most part, we have a pretty good understanding of rosters after National Signing Day and so much transfer portal movement.

In each part of this series, we will unveil where each of the 18 teams in the new look conference begin. We started at No. 1 with the revamped Ohio State Buckeyes. Then, the Oregon Ducks come in at the second spot. Coming in at No. 3 are the defending National Champion Michigan Wolverines, who are in a bit of a transition period.

At No. 4, we unveil the Penn State Nittany Lions, who are returning a lot of talent from their 2023 roster.

Talent has not been an issue under James Franklin. The same will be said in 2024, when they bring back several big time players with NFL futures. It starts with junior quarterback Drew Allar, who was up and down in his first year as a starter but has massive tools to work with. Allar can lean on a dynamic running back duo of Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen, which is one of the best duos in all of college football.

On defense, they will be led by junior defenders Abdul Carter and Dani Dennis-Sutton. Both players are still developing but have massive upside. With Carter moving to defensive end full time, the Nittany Lions have a chance to have one of the more vicious pass rush units in 2024.

Penn State must replace both coordinators but there is an argument that Andy Kotelnicki and Tom Allen could provide an upgrade, especially Kolelnicki on the offensive side of the football. In the end, it’ll come down to whether or not Franklin can elevate as an in game coach.

Full Big Ten Rankings

  1. Ohio State Buckeyes
  2. Oregon Ducks
  3. Michigan Wolverines
  4. Penn State Nittany Lions
  5. TBD
  6. TBD
  7. TBD
  8. TBD
  9. TBD
  10. TBD
  11. TBD
  12. TBD
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Theo Johnson makes his case to be second tight end selected during 2024 NFL Draft

Who is going to take the spot of TE2?

The 2024 NFL draft appears especially high at the top, boasting nice depth on both day one and day two of the class come April. The tight end class in 2024 is a pretty interesting one, highlighted by an arguably generational talent in Brock Bowers (Georgia). After Bowers, however, there is less certainty.

Most people have Ja’Tavion Sanders penciled into the second spot after Bowers but there is almost no clarity for who the third tight end off of the board might be. One name that was circulating a ton during the 2024 Reese’s Senior Bowl week was former Penn State standout Theo Johnson, who was one of the big winners at the event.

It started with a weigh-in that was phenomenal. From a physical perspective, you just aren’t going to find many tight ends who are more impressive than Johnson. He came in at 6’6” and 257 pounds, with an 81 ¼” wingspan and 10-inch hands. That is how you draw it up at the position.

Johnson proceeded to be largely considered the top performer at the position in attendance. He was smooth in drills, flashing straight-line speed and that massive catch radius. Add in his development upside as a blocker, and you have a player who could be a much better pro than what he was in college.

Coming out of the event, there is some major buzz around Johnson. He is anticipated to potentially run in the high 4.4s in the forty-yard dash at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine, which should solidify his placement in this class. Some sources believe that Johnson has already solidified himself as the third tight end in the 2024 class. Others believe that it is possible that he could end up being the second player off the board after Bowers.

There is projection needed with Johnson, but the NFL has shown that it is willing to bank on the upside and gamble. If developed properly, Johnson’s placement could legitimize that gamble in the relatively near future.

Ohio State ends losing streak, beats Penn State at home

Back in the win column! #GoBucks

That was a little more like it. The Ohio State basketball team was on a three-game losing streak heading into the home contest against Penn State on Saturday and ended it with what will hopefully be a start to a winning one.

The Buckeyes put their foot on the gas from the start, racing out to a 16-point lead thanks to some good defense, then held on the rest of the way, never trailing enroute to a 79-67 victory in front of the home crowd.

Roddy Gayle Jr. and Evan Mahaffey led OSU with 16 points a piece. Jamison Battle poured in 11 points and Zed Key scored 10 to make it four Ohio State players in double figures. Another bright spot that we’ll hopefully start to see more was last year’s Mr. Basketball of Ohio, Devin Royal, who came off the bench to contribute eight points.

Ohio State struggled from 3-point range, knocking down just 3-of-18, but made up for it by outrebounding Penn State 34-25 and making 22-of-25 free throws to just 4-of-5 made by the Nittany Lions.

With the victory, the Buckeyes improve their record to 13-5 overall, and 3-4 in the Big Ten. The next contest will be on the road at Nebraska on Tuesday.

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion. Follow Phil Harrison on X.

Former Ohio State receiver Julian Fleming staying in the Big Ten

Julian Fleming, who hauled in 963 yards and seven touchdowns across his four seasons with the Buckeyes, announced a new home in the Big Ten.

Former Ohio State wide receiver Julian Fleming won’t be going too far to find his new college football home.

The former Buckeye announced on social media on Wednesday that he would play for Penn State in 2024.

Fleming spent four seasons with Ohio State, and he put up 963 yards and seven touchdowns on 79 career receptions. His best season came as a junior in 2022, when he caught 34 passes for 533 yards and six touchdowns.

The senior put together a season-high 58 receiving yards in two separate games, once against Indiana in the season opener and again in the regular season finale against Michigan. He finished fourth on the team with 270 receiving yards in 2023.

He shared time in the Buckeyes wide receiver room with names like Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, Jaxson Smith-Njigba, Jameson Williams, Marvin Harrison Jr., and Emeka Egbuka.

A former five-star prospect out of high school, Fleming was the top receiver and the No. 4 overall recruit in 247Sports’ Class of 2020 rankings. The Pennsylvania native sat atop a position ranking with Smith-Njigba, Washington’s Jalen McMillan, and Alabama‘s Jermaine Burton.

Get more Penn State coverage at Nittany Lions Wire.

Ohio State basketball blows big lead, falls to Penn State in Big Ten road opener

One that got away. #GoBucks

It’s one the Ohio State basketball team should have put away and notched in the win column. Leading by as much as 18 points at one time, the Buckeyes let Penn State back in the game in the second half and eventually fell late by a score of 83-80 on Saturday night.

It started off great for the OSU, controlling most of the first half and grabbing some breathing room before heading to the break up 41-29.

It would be more of the same to start the second half, with the Buckeyes going up by 18 when Jamison Battle hit a three-point bucket to put OSU up 55-37 at the 15:31 mark left in the game. But the Nittany Lions began to make big shots and play with more purpose and effort than the young Ohio State team, slowly closing the deficit and eventually, finally, grabbing a 79-76 lead with :32 seconds left when Ace Baldwin Jr. made a step back three pointer.

From there, OSU tried to make some magic happen, but the Nittany Lions held on for the victory.

It was turnovers that doomed the Buckeyes. For the game, they had 16 charitable contributions to just eight by Penn State. The rebounding that was dominant by the guys in scarlet and gray in the first half went towards the Nittany Lions in a considerable fashion, as did loose balls and a desire to win. It’s the type of loss that can derail a season or be filed away as a learning lesson for a young team still looking to improve and be a factor in the league.

Bruce Thornton led the Buckeyes with 17 points on 4-of-11 shooting. Jamison Battle (13 points), Zed Key (12 points), and Roddy Gayle Jr. (11 points), also scored in double figures, but it wasn’t enough.

The loss drops Ohio State’s record to 8-2 overall and 1-1 in the conference. OSU will next take on UCLA on Saturday in the CBS Sports Classic.

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion. Follow Phil Harrison on X.

Two analysts predict an upset in Happy Valley on Saturday

Two journalists pick Penn State to upset Michigan on Saturday.

There is a big game going on at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. That might be a minor story in comparison to what has transpired ahead of the game, which kicks off at Noon on Fox.

On Friday as the Michigan Wolverines it was announced that the Big Ten had banned Jim Harbaugh from being on the sidelines for the final three games of the regular season. The conference announced that Michigan was found in violation of the Big Ten’s Sportsmanship Policy for the in-person scouting operation for multiple years stating it gave the Wolverines an “unfair competitive advantage that compromised the integrity of competition.”

While the team must now prepare to take on the No. 10 Penn State Nittany Lions without their head coach. Meanwhile, the home team is expected to get notable pass rusher Chop Robinson back for this game. Our colleagues Jace Evans and Dan Wolken believe that everything surrounding the program both on and off the field, is the recipe for an upset.

Michigan has a lot going on right now, as you all may have noticed. It seems a poor time, then, for the Wolverines to face by far their hardest challenge of the year to date. No team in college football has looked better this year … and no good team has played so few good opponents. I think the Wolverines stumble in Happy Valley as controversy swirls around them, giving Penn State and coach James Franklin a needed big-game win. — Jace Evans

Even though I’m not completely sure how Penn State plans to score against one of the best defenses in the country, all the tumult going on at Michigan has to catch up with this team sooner or later. So why not on the road against an opponent that has a lot of talent? History suggests this is a bad pick because Penn State under James Franklin does not beat Michigan (or Ohio State) when Michigan is good. We’ve seen it again and again with this team. But Michigan has been allowed to cruise through the first nine games of the year against very bad competition, and though the Wolverines are excellent on both sides of the ball, there is probably some competitive atrophy from never playing a good team. It’s absolutely bizarre that it’s this late in the season and Michigan finally gets a test. Presumably without the benefit of Connor Stalions’ inside information on Penn State’s signs, this is going to be an upset for the Nittany Lions. — Dan Wolken

It remains to be seen how this will all play out. Will Michigan be distracted with Jim Harbaugh once again suspended, this time by the Big Ten? Or will they be even more motivated to send a message to the college football world?

For more on this game check out Wolverines Wire and Nittany Lions Wire.

Big Ten football power rankings after Week 9: The case for Ohio State and Michigan.

Good luck figuring out the middle to bottom of this league. For now though, is it Ohio State or Michigan on top? #B1G

We’re now nine weeks through the college football season and it’s becoming increasingly clear what the top of the Big Ten looks like. Ohio State and Michigan appear to be the class of the league again, but which team should get the nod as the best team to date?

Penn State is right behind those two, but all of a sudden the offense that looked so efficient has started to bump and grind a little. The Nittany Lions needed some late magic to get by Indiana in Happy Valley. Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess which teams will win on an almost weekly basis.

Northwestern has gotten off the mat to move to .500. The Maryland Terps are heading in the wrong direction once again since Big Ten play started, and there’s questions on Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan State and others.

So, after yet another weekend of an interesting week in the Big Ten, how does our Big Ten football power rankings shake out? Is there a change at the top, and what about the middle to back end?

We do our best to sort it all.

Big Ten football power rankings after Week 8: A new team in the top spot?

Hey, hey, there’s a new team on the top. Has this weekend changed your mind at all about the trio of Big Ten teams on top? #B1G

Before the start of the 2023 season, the thought was the Big Ten was top heavy with Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan leading the way. So far this year, that has rung true, but the order of the three still needs to sort itself out.

We had a big game in Columbus between the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions that went a long way in figuring that out, but the Wolverines still have to travel to State College, so hold the phone.

Aside from those three, the Big Ten has looked a lot like a youth soccer game with all of the teams kind of bunched in the same spot as play unfolds. It’s really anyone’s guess which teams end up on top at the end in the Big Ten West, and where the teams line up behind the aforementioned trio in the conference as a whole.

Undaunted, we do our best to try and figure out the pecking order with our Big Ten football power rankings after each week, and we’re ready to try and make sense of it all after another interesting slate of games.

Here’s how we see things now with a new team taking the top spot after Week 8. We’re sure it’ll change again next week with how unpredictable this conference has been.

WATCH: Ryan Day discusses win over Penn State

Watch and listen to what Ohio State head coach Ryan Day had to say about the massive win over Penn State in his postgame press conference. #GoBucks

Ohio State came to play against a top-10 Penn State team and looked like the better team on Saturday with its defense dictating the play en route to a 20-12 victory in the ‘Shoe. It was the most impressive win by OSU this season, and coupled with the win at Notre Dame, there isn’t a pair of better wins in the country.

Head coach Ryan Day met with the media after the game and was in a noticeably jovial mood after the big win and we’ve got the entire press conference thanks to the Ohio State Buckeyes Facebook page. Day was asked about the play of the defense, some injury concerns, looking ahead to the future, Marvin Harrison Jr.’s performance and more.

In case you want to catch all of his comment, simply play the video below and get some insight into the mind of Day and what we saw on Saturday afternoon.

https://www.facebook.com/buckeyes/videos/1083380913040402

With the win, Ohio State moves to 7-0 and will get ready to hit the road to take on Wisconsin in a pretty tough environment in Camp Randall Stadium. No rest for the weary.

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion. Follow Phil Harrison on X.

What Penn State head coach James Franklin said about Ohio State after the loss to the Buckeyes

Franklin was quick to credit Ohio State. Find out what he thinks of the Buckeyes after taking the loss in the ‘Shoe. #GoBucks

This was supposed to be the Penn State team that could go toe-to-toe with Ohio State and have a chance at knocking off the Buckeyes in the ‘Shoe. The defense was billed as one of the best in the country, and the offense, though far from explosive, was efficient and able to score on everyone it played, including the Iowa Hawkeyes.

However, it wasn’t the Penn State defense that stole the show, but rather the one wearing Scarlet and Gray. The game was a close, low-scoring affair, but Ohio State did enough to pull away in the second half. Only a junk time score by the Nittany Lions made it a one score, 20-12, game when the clock hit zero.

Penn State head coach James Franklin met with the media after the game and was quick to give credit to the Buckeyes. You can listen to the entire press conference if you didn’t get a chance to thanks to video we took from the scene and uploaded to our Buckeyes Wire YouTube channel.

Franklin complimented Ohio State’s defense, thought the two teams were two of the best in the country, and went out of his way to single out the performance of “No. 18,” who we all know is Marvelous Marvin Harrison Jr., along with more.

While a monumental win for Ohio State this year, the team will have to get ready to travel to Wisconsin, a very hard place to play. We’ll have coverage all next week leading up to that one, so come back and digest our preview, predictions, and more.

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion. Follow Phil Harrison on X.