Penn State Has a Chance to 'Change That Narrative,' James Franklin Says

Penn State enters the 2025 season with perhaps its highest set of expecations, both internal and external, in more than 25 years. The Nittany Lions last began a season ranked in the AP Top 5 in 1999, when they were third in the preseason poll. Penn State figures to be ranked at least that highly when the preseason polls are released in August.

With that promise comes both opportunity and expectation. Penn State football coach James Franklin has embraced those expectations since guiding his team to the 2016 Big Ten championship years ahead of schedule. Following that, Penn State has clipped the upper echelons of college football while not quite getting there.

But now, Penn State is a real contender. ESPN elevated the Nittany Lions to No. 1 in its post-spring rankings, as did FOX Sports' Joel Klatt. Penn State even gets high grades in EA Sports' College Football 26, which rates the Nittany Lions in its pre-release top 5. So where does that leave Franklin? Embracing expectations even more, as he told the hosts of the Triple Option Podcast.

“I think we've got a tremendous opportunity to do some special things this year,"Franklin said on a recent edition of the podcast. "I know you don’t want me to do this, but I am excited about our opportunity. I’m looking up on the screen right now, Nevada is our opening game. People are going to say, ‘Well, that’s not a big game.’ Well, lose to Nevada and find out quickly."

Penn State is among the headliners of college football this season based on a combination of its 2024-25 successes and the talent it returns. The Nittany Lions won a school-record 13 games and reached the semifinals in their first appearance in the College Football Playoff. But for a few snaps, the Nittany Lions would have beat Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl to reach the championship game.

Those snaps fueled an offseason in which Penn State returned talent such as quarterback Drew Allar, running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen and five offensive linemen with starting experience. Franklin then hired Ohio State's Jim Knowles as his new defensive coordinator and retained potential defensive All-Americans in tackle Zane Durant, end Dani Dennis-Sutton, cornerback A.J. Harris and safety Zakee Wheatley.

So when asked on the podcast about Penn State's championship hopes, Franklin said, "We're focused on that," referring to the season-opener Aug. 30 against Nevada. He also acknowledged that the Nittany Lions have expectations of themselves like everyone else.

Penn State has lost five regular-season games over the past three seasons, all to Ohio State or Michigan. Their three losses last year were to teams that entered the College Football Playoff as the No. 1 overall seed (Oregon) and the championship-game participants (Ohio State and Notre Dame). So, though he brings up Nevada, Franklin is willing to address what comes next.

"But I also am totally comfortable with talking about the things that we aspire to do as a team this year and as a season and for these players," Franklin said. "To me, that’s the biggest thing. I want these players to experience this. I want these players that have come back and made these sacrifices to be a part of something special. And that’s why I wake up very early and that’s why I go to sleep late at night, trying to put these players in the best position to be successful at it and have a very, very special season this year at Penn State.”

Check out Franklin's entire appearance on the Triple Option Podcast with Mark Ingram II, Urban Meyer and Rob Stone.

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