Who will be the best team in college football this year? Plenty believe it will be Texas, as evidenced by their number one rank, odds to win, and Arch Manning being the Heisman frontrunner right now. Ohio State repeating is more than on the table as well. Clemson, Alabama, LSU, and others are hailed as potential contenders, too.
What about Penn State? They're seen as a contender, but their number two ranking in the AP Poll got a lot of flak. That was apparently not high enough of a rating, as The Athletic's Chris Vannini ranked them number one.
"The Nittany Lions are this year’s Michigan and Ohio State, with a lot of guys who turned down the NFL to come back to win it all, and I predict they will. You can’t get over the hump until you finally do," he said.
Penn State had a ton of players who could've gone to the NFL, namely QB Drew Allar, who came back. They're well-coached, and they were pretty close to a title match with Ohio State last year. The Texas Longhorns have Manning, who is a bit of a temporary question mark at QB until we know how good he is.
The Buckeyes lost a lot of talent to the NFL, so they may have a difficult time getting back. Penn State doesn't have that problem. They're one of 2024's best teams back almost entirely in 2025, so it's easy to see the path to a title for the Nittany Lions.