Phil Steele has added his voice to the Penn State football chorus for 2025. Steele has published the digital version of his College Football ’25 Preview, where Penn State tops the 2025 power poll. Steele also projects the Nittany Lions to win the Big Ten in a season that could bring their first College Football Playoff championship.
“Of [last season’s] final four teams, Penn State returns the most so they are a legitimate national title contender,” Steele wrote of Penn State. “They get both Oregon and Indiana at home and do not play Michigan but have to travel to Columbus. The last two national champions were veteran laden Big Ten teams and Penn State fits that mold this year.”
Steele certainly is high on Penn State’s roster. He projects the Nittany Lions’ with six of the Big Ten’s top position groups, including quarterback, running back and all three defensive units (line, linebacker, secondary). Steele also ranks Penn State’s Nicholas Singleton as the No. 1 draft-eligible running back in college football, with Kaytron Allen at No. 11. Steele further projects Singleton and offensive guard Vega Ioane as first-team All-Americans.
Notably, Steele also projects Penn State’s offensive line as No. 1 nationally. That represents a huge leap forward for the Nittany Lions, who return five linemen with starting experience, including potential high-round draft pick Ioane, whom Steele calls a “pile-driver.”
Penn State continues its preseason climb
The Phil Steele endorsement is the latest in a series for the Nittany Lions after reaching the semifinals of the College Football Playoff. Since the Orange Bowl, Penn State has been one of the best-reviewed programs in the country.
FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt placed Penn State atop his post-spring top 25, saying the team is ready to “take the next step” this season. On a recent episode of the Joel Klatt Show, the college football analyst paralleled Steele’s suggestion that Penn State could follow the footprints of Michigan and Ohio State, the past two national champions.
“Both of those teams had a core group of veteran players stay,” Klatt said on his podcast. “They stayed and they won a championship. Both of those teams had veterans at quarterback. They had veterans on both sides of the ball. They were excellent at the line of scrimmage. They had chips on their shoulders from the way that they were bounced in the postseason in years prior. All of that is true about Penn State.”
ESPN’s College Football Power Index, a predictive model that analyzes teams’ strengths against each other, ranks Penn State fifth in its latest release. The FPI gives Penn State a 63.8 percent chance to make the College Football Playoff and a 7.6 percent chance to win the national championship. The Nittany Lions’ projected win total of 10.2 is slightly behind that of Ohio State (10.4) in the Big Ten.
Penn State returns nine starters on offense, including fourth-year quarterback Drew Allar, and five on defense, now guided by former Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. Penn State has not begun a season ranked in the top 3 of the AP preseason poll since 1999, when it was third. The last time Penn State began a season No. 1 in the AP Top 25 was 1997.
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