Throughout most of the 2024 college football season, Penn State was thought of as a fraudulent team that was consistently ranked highly in the AP poll and had a good record mostly because of its easy schedule.
That schedule, one that was ranked as one of the top three easiest in the Big Ten for the 2024 season, did not include games against formidable Big Ten opponents. Penn State didn’t have teams like Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, or Oregon on its schedule.
In fact, Penn State faced just two ranked teams during the regular season last year, No. 19 Illinois and No. 4 Ohio State. Penn State went 1-1 in those games, beating Illinois and being beaten by Ohio State.
Penn State faced some opponents that were respected at some point during the season, teams like USC and Minnesota. Getting to skate by without facing opponents like Michigan and Oregon makes any season for a prominent Big Ten squad a lot easier, though.
And for the 2025 season, the Nittany Lions will by no means face a cupcake schedule. But with teams like Michigan, Illinois, USC, Wisconsin, and Minnesota all not on the docket, they will by no means face the most difficult schedule possible either.
After starting the season out with games against a three-win Nevada team, a four-win FIU team, and a mediocre Villanova team, Penn State doesn’t face any true competition until its fourth game, a battle against the Oregon Ducks, who finished last regular season with an undefeated record.
From that point on, Penn State plays nine straight games against Big Ten opponents, and conference opponents are usually the toughest. When five of those opponents finished in the bottom half of the conference just the year before, the schedule is not necessarily difficult.
Sure, Penn State plays Oregon and Ohio State, a team that went undefeated last season and another that is the defending national champion, but those are Penn State’s only two real opponents next year.
Indiana could give Penn State some trouble, something that will become more or less likely depending on the outcome of Penn State’s game against Ohio State the week before, but Indiana was even more a result of a cupcake schedule in 2024 than PSU was. I’m not quite sure the Hoosiers are real just yet.
At the very worst, the Nittany Lions will lose two games next season, but, realistically, Penn State could go 11-1 or even undefeated based on its schedule last year.
If Penn State can get just a few more reinforcements, then the Nittany Lions will be poised to make another deep playoff run for the second straight year thanks to its favorable regular season schedule.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
