Penn State is certainly on its way to a major revival. Jim Knowles had been an unimaginable beast for Ohio State under Ryan Day’s leadership last season. The Buckeyes had just spectacularly won the Natty. However, Knowles, who spearheaded the team’s electric defense, limiting opponents to just 12.9 points per game and solidifying the team’s reputation as one of the best in the country, was unable to relish the team’s celebratory bubble phase due to Franklin’s imminent arrival with a lucrative $10 million contract offer. Money ran again as the Nittany Lions landed one of Pennsylvania’s most sought-after coaching prospects.

Now that the initial hype and pressure have subsided, the question arises: what lies ahead for the historic B1G school? Can they achieve a successful turnaround with their current resources? What will be the odds?

Hopes started to pen up at Penn State following the big OSU DC transfer recruitment

Penn State is gradually progressing behind the bar. Even though it’s still pretty subtle, they are getting there slowly and surely. Ever since the NIL money entered college football, the surrounding reality underwent a massive transformation, and barely anything remained the same, and only for the better. As Franklin said, he wanted the experience to be transformational, not transactional, after he capped off the season for the Lions following a gutsy 27-24 loss to Notre Dame. No one can accuse the Nittany Lions of not giving up a fight. A few plays here and there, and they could have been playing the Buckeyes for the natty!

The veteran head coach understands the ball game pretty well, and he is pushing the program to come out of its traditional bias and become more flexible to take up a pay-up or get-out policy. Explaining the perspective, the College Football Addiction podcast host said to Penn State insider Tom Hannifan, ”It’s a big question going forward if Penn State’s going to be prepared to leave that old archaic, tradition-based line of thinking in the past and be like, hey, this is what it takes to be competitive at this point in the lifetime of college football; you’re either going to pay up, or you’re gonna fall behind.” They have spent a lot on recruiting big fish in the portal despite poor NIL funding compared to other top programs.

They still have some cracks in the WR room, but that is workable. The analysts deem Penn State’s already a potential winner in the consistent spending of money as they started to make the seamless transition to Joe Paterno’s success with the honor philosophy.

“When it comes to players, how many times have the national media and local media talked about Penn State’s wide receivers being pedestrians? They need upgrades at that position, and they need upgrade at a handful of positions going into 2025 but the nucleus that they return from 2024 is outstanding. Andy Kotelnicki, quarterback, dual running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, the list goes on,” the podcaster noted.

But the hope of more money and more quality players kind of started from their epic Jim Knowles’ $10 million contract signing. “I give a lot of credit to Pat Kraft and James Franklin for slowly winning over hearts and minds to get to the point where you can give a coordinator three-plus million dollars.”

Well, do all these glimmers of hope collectively indicate that the Nittany Lions are up there to freak out Ohio State and Ryan Day next season?

Can Penn State beat Ohio State and get to a national title rank in 2025?

Bragging Ohio State’s DC might be a good move toward grabbing their title, but it’s never a guarantee. The Lions must address numerous factors before achieving their goal. However, if you ask Knowles, the recent transfer from a national championship-winning team, he says Penn State was very close to their goal. While it’s undeniable that Penn State faced challenges that prevented them from winning the title, Knowles maintains that they can overcome these issues and are on the verge of success. ‘I think I can help; I can be of service,” the new DC oozed confidence and faith while being asked about his motive with OSU.

Even if we buy that hope, in case Penn State gets to meet Ohio State in the process, can they beat them out after years and cement their supremacy? Well, the history looks a bit out of place since Penn State hasn’t toppled Ohio State even once since 2015. However, the transformative atmosphere surrounding the team allows for the possibility of unthinkable outcomes.

“Of course, that proverbial monkey is on your back, so if Penn State was able to beat Ohio State in 2025, it would be incredible to do it at home in Columbus against the Buckeyes coming off of a national championship; it would be a paradigm shift for this program and the fascinating thing about all this is there are still people knocking Ohio State for the greatest roster that money could buy,” the analyst put Ryan Day and OSU on high alert.

The message is clear. Safeguard your honor! Penn State is coming to get them all!