Iowa Hawkeyes 2025 Opponent Preview: Penn State Nittany Lions

For Iowa’s fourth Big Ten game of the 2025 season, the Hawkeyes will host a 2024 College Football Playoff semifinalist.

The Hawkeyes will battle Penn State on Oct. 18 at Kinnick Stadium.

Coached by James Franklin, the Nittany Lions fell just one game short of the national title game, losing to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.

Here’s what to know about the Nittany Lions:

2024 recap

Penn State survived a couple of close calls early in the season to enter its game against Ohio State undefeated.

The Nittany Lions scraped by Bowling Green in Week 2, beating the Falcons 33-27. They needed overtime to beat USC 33-30 and stay undefeated. Penn State won its other five contests in the first seven weeks by double digits.

Then, Penn State and the Buckeyes squared off in one of the best games of the season. The Nittany Lions fell 20-13 to Ohio State for their first loss of the season in an elite defensive matchup.

Penn State won its remaining four regular-season games, beating Washington, Purdue, Maryland and Minnesota. The Nittany Lions only beat Minnesota by one point, while they won the other three games handily.

The Nittany Lions earned a bid in the Big Ten Championship Game but lost 45-37 to Oregon, the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff.

Penn State, 11-2 after the conference title game loss, opened the CFP with a 38-10 win against SMU at Beaver Stadium. The Nittany Lions then defeated Boise State 31-14 in the quarterfinals.

The Nittany Lions’ season ended one round later, as they lost 27-24 to the Fighting Irish.

Key returners

QB Drew Allar (Sr.), RB Nicholas Singleton (Sr.), RB Kaytron Allen (Sr.), OL Olaivavega Ioane (Jr.), DL Dani Dennis-Sutton (Sr.), DL Zane Durant (Sr.), LB Dominic DeLuca (Sr.), DB A.J. Harris (Jr.).

Notable transfer additions

WR Trebor Pena (Syracuse), LB Amare Campbell (North Carolina), WR Devonte Ross (Troy), WR Kyron Hudson (USC), DB King Mack (Alabama), OL TJ Shanahan (Texas A&M).

Strengths

Offensive experience is a plus for the Nittany Lions.

At quarterback will be Allar, who has compiled a 23-6 record in two seasons as Penn State’s starter. In 2024, he threw for 3,327 yards, 24 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

The Nittany Lions also have arguably the best running-back duo in the nation with Singleton and Allen. Those two teamed up for more than 2,200 yards and 20 touchdowns combined.

All five of Penn State’s projected starting offensive linemen are returners, meaning that there will likely be strong chemistry on the line.

Penn State is thin as far as returning wideouts. But the Nittany Lions grabbed a trio of talented wideouts — Pena, Ross and Hudson — from the transfer portal, and all of them will likely be top targets for Allar.

Penn State’s ability to pass, run and block effectively sets up for what should be one of college football’s most consistent offenses.

Weaknesses

There’s no denying that Franklin is a quality coach.

In 11 seasons at Penn State, he has compiled a 101-42 record. Franklin has taken the Nittany Lions to major bowl games six times and has posted six double-digit-win seasons.

But 2024 was his first time reaching the CFP.

The Nittany Lions have struggled to win their biggest games each season under Franklin. That was on full display a year ago, with Penn State’s losses to Ohio State, Oregon and Notre Dame.

Franklin is a regular winner. But his regularly lackluster performances in major games have become a pattern.

How do the Nittany Lions match up with the Hawkeyes?

Iowa’s best chance in this game is to keep it low-scoring.