Sad News: Check out the names of Penn State players who set to depart after….
After suffering an injury that took him out of the College Football Playoff, quarterback Carson Beck returns for another season, but in a Hurricanes jersey this time. What does Beck have to do while at Miami to get back into the first-round draft conversation?
James Franklin and the Nittany Lions look like a top-caliber team this upcoming season as they return their top running backs and an experienced quarterback in Drew Allar.
After losing in the CFP semifinal to Notre Dame last season, what do Penn State and Allar have left to prove?
Our college football experts give their thoughts on teams, coaches and players who have the most to prove.
The Nittany Lions have not won a national championship in almost four decades (though they did go unbeaten in 1994).
But they now have one of the most experienced quarterbacks in college football in Drew Allar, while Big Ten powerhouses Ohio Stateand Michiganare set to debut freshman passers. Last year’s other Big Ten playoff teams, Oregon(Dillon Gabriel) and Indiana(Kurtis Rourke), graduated their star quarterbacks. Penn State also boasts the nation’s top returning running back duo (Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen) and even swiped Jim Knowles from Ohio State after he coordinated the top defense in the country.
The Nittany Lions will never have a better shot to win the Big Ten — and national title — than they will this season.
Bill Connelly:Yeah, it has to be Penn State. The Nittany Lions are going all-in and might have the most proven stars in the country.
We still don’t know if their receiving corps is ready for prime time, but their schedule is extremely navigable outside of a Nov. 1 trip to Columbus to face Ohio State. There will never be a better time for a breakthrough than 2025.
Chris Low: When is there not something to prove at Alabama? Nick Saban won six national championships in Tuscaloosa, and there was always an embedded responsibility to continue feeding that monster the next season.
Now, as Kalen DeBoer enters his second season at Alabama, the last thing anybody in and around that Crimson Tide program wants is to go a second straight season without making the College Football Playoff.
DeBoer and his staff have recruited well, and he was able to bring back Ryan Grubb as offensive coordinator after Grubb spent last season in the NFL.
DeBoer will have more of his fingerprints on the 2025 team, and there should be a better overall understanding among the players of how he rolls.
Either way, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize how important this next season is for the program.
