What happened to Penn State? How James Franklin's team went from College Football Playoff hopeful to Northwestern, UCLA losses

Daniel Mader

•
What happened to Penn State? How James Franklin's team went from College Football Playoff hopeful to Northwestern, UCLA losses image

When the Penn State Nittany Lions entered their 2025 season, expectations hadn't been higher for the program in decades.

Between a collection of returning talent on both sides of the ball, a seemingly improved wide receiver core and two highly-paid veteran coordinators, James Franklin had everything in place to build off a deep College Football Playoff run in 2024. The Nittany Lions entered the new season ranked No. 2 in the preseason AP Poll, hype at an all-time high under Franklin.

Flash forward just over a month, and an all-out disaster has materialized in Happy Valley.

📲 Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp

Following Saturday's 22-21 loss to Northwestern, Penn State has now dropped three consecutive games, including two-straight to unranked Big Ten opponents. Quarterback Drew Allar also left Saturday's game with an injury.

While a double-overtime loss to the Oregon Ducks wasn't ideal, it wasn't season ending -- defeats to seemingly inferior UCLA and Northwestern squads, however, have virtually ended the Nittany Lions' quest for a national title before it even started.

How did Penn State's 2025 season fall apart so quickly? Here's a breakdown of the disastrous campaign for the Nittany Lions thus far.

MORE: Latest injury updates on Penn State QB Drew Allar

What happened to Penn State?

Penn State's struggles have been all around a roster with high expectations. There's a reason the Nittany Lions entered 2025 among the national title favorites, aiming to follow a title blueprint followed by Big Ten foes Michigan and Ohio State. But none of it has worked out.

To start with the offense, the hope for Franklin was that despite star tight end Tyler Warren heading to the NFL, the Nittany Lions could fill his void with a replenished receiver room, one of the nation's best ground games and a creative offensive coordinator in Andy Kotelnicki. Instead, entering Week 7, the Nittany Lions ranked 70th in the country in yards per game (389.0).

"I understand the frustration," Franklin said postgame after the Northwestern loss. "I'm committed to the guys in the locker room. ... we gotta stick together. We gotta tune out all the noise."

While Allar has targeted his receivers more this season, none have become the true difference-maker like Warren was -- USC transfer Kyron Hudson led Penn State in receiving entering Week 7 with 208 yards, which didn't even fall within the top 250 receivers in college football. Another transfer, Devonte Ross, stepped up in Week 7 with 115 yards, but it wasn't enough in a loss.

The run game has also fallen off a cliff compared to 2024. Nick Singleton, one-half of a strong  backfield tandem alongside Kaytron Allen, entered Week 7 with 3.8 yards per carry, with most of his best work coming in lighter matchups against FIU and Villanova. Allen has been himself -- he totaled 90 rushing yards in the loss to Northwestern and two scores against UCLA -- but he also hasn't seen more than 16 carries in a game this season.  

The offensive struggles haven't all fallen on Allar, but he also hasn't helped them in any fashion. After throwing the interception that allowed Notre Dame to beat Penn State in the CFP semifinals last season, the Nittany Lions quarterback threw another key pick in the loss to Oregon. In double-overtime, Allar's pick sealed the game when Penn State needed to score.

That interception was the beginning of the end for Penn State's 2025 campaign. Since then, the team has lost consecutive matchups to unranked opponents. For the big arm he has, Allar also hasn't been able to display it often; he entered Week 7 averaging just 6.9 yards per pass, then threw for a total of 137 yards against Northwestern. He hasn't cleared 220 passing yards in a game in 2025.

Allar also left Saturday's loss to the Wildcats, an injury that added salt to the wound for Penn State. He is expected to miss the remainder of the 2025 season.

Defensively, it has also been rough for the Nittany Lions. They allowed 42 points to a then-winless UCLA team in Week 6, then 22 points to Northwestern the following week. Even with a new defensive coordinator in Jim Knowles, Penn State's defense has allowed over 115 rushing yards 280 total yards all three of its losses, forcing just one turnover in those games as well.

"We shouldn’t lose that game. It’s 100 percent on me, and we got to get it fixed, and I will get it fixed," Franklin said postgame on Saturday, per Joel Haas.

The current stretch marks the second time under Franklin that Penn State has started 0-3 in Big Ten action.

MORE: What are the reasons for Arch Manning's struggles?

Penn State timeline of collapse

Here's a breakdown of the 2025 calendar year for Penn State, from last season's CFP run to now.

Jan. 9, 2025: Penn State falls to Notre Dame in CFP semifinals

The Nittany Lions, in their first-ever College Football Playoff appearance, lost to the Fighting Irish in January with a trip to the title game on the line. After two playoff wins, it was Allar's interception that set up Notre Dame's game-winning field goal in a 27-24 loss.

Jan. 26, 2025: Penn State hires Jim Knowles, adds WRs in portal

A few weeks after the 2024 season ended, Penn State hired a well-respected defensive coordinator in Ohio State's Jim Knowles, who was fresh off a national championship. Between the addition of Knowles, a few solid transfer wide receivers, and a collection of talent opting to return to Penn State, the Nittany Lions became positioned as an early 2025 favorite.

Knowles' reported three-year deal worth $3.1 million per season made him the highest-paid defensive coordinator in college football.

Sept. 13, 2025: Penn State opens season 3-0 with light schedule

As the team usually does, Penn State had a fairly light schedule to open 2025. The Nittany Lions beat Nevada 46-11, FIU 34-0 and Villanova 52-6 to open the year.

Still, Allar wasn't posting dominant numbers despite those wins. He threw an interception against Villanova, and didn't top 217 passing yards against three easier defenses to face.

Sept. 27, 2025: Penn State drops 'White Out' to Oregon in 2OT

The first loss for Penn State in 2025 came against its best opponent. The Nittany Lions trailed 17-3 against the Ducks in their annual "White Out" matchup in Beaver Stadium, made a comeback effort to force overtime, then fell apart defensively once again.

While Allar found Ross for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, the Nittany Lions then allowed Oregon quarterback Dante Moore to throw for two scores in the extra frames. Allar's interception then sealed a 30-24 loss, dropping Penn State in the AP Poll a few spots.

Oct. 4, 2025: UCLA upsets Penn State at home

Franklin let one loss become two when Penn State traveled west. In Week 6, an 0-4 UCLA team that had fired its head coach couldn't be stopped by the Nittany Lions.

UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava threw for two touchdowns and ran for an additional three scores in a 42-37 victory, the Bruins' first of the season. Penn State failed to stop a UCLA offense that hadn't done much in 2025 so far, also failing to keep up offensively despite the talent gap.

The loss dropped the Nittany Lions from the AP Poll for the first time since 2022.

Oct. 11, 2025: Penn State loses at home to Northwestern, Drew Allar injured

If things could've gotten worse for Franklin's team, they did in Week 7. Facing a 3-2 Northwestern team, also unranked, Penn State's offense was flustered yet again in a 22-21 loss in from of its home crowd.

The Nittany Lions allowed 163 passing yards and a touchdown to opposing quarterback Preston Stone, but more critically, got just 137 yards, no touchdowns and an interception from Allar.

In the fourth quarter, Allar exited with an injury after taking a big hit. Immediately following the game, Franklin ruled him out for the remainder of the 2025 season.

MORE: How Kalen DeBoer's "black hoodie" has led to success

James Franklin buyout

Talks about Franklin's status at Penn State are only getting louder. However, the team would have a hefty price to pay to fire him during the season.

Franklin's current deal pays him $8 million annually through the 2031 season, plus a $500,000 retention bonus on Dec. 31 each season and various other performance bonuses. His buyout is the full remaining amount on his contract, which does not include the retention bonus. 

So, Franklin's current buyout would be $56 million. If Penn State waited until after the 2025 season, but before 2026, it would have to pay Franklin $48 million.

Because of that massive figure, the only way Franklin and the Nittany Lions part ways would likely be if the head coach willingly takes off for another program. He'd be one of the most expensive coaches in college football to fire.

Penn State College Football Playoff chances

Penn State's playoff chances in 2025 are all but evaporated. Entering Week 7, ESPN's Power Index gave the team just a 2.1 percent chance to make the 12-team field — and that was before another loss to an unranked opponent.

Three losses is already tough to overcome to make the playoff field. Unless the Nittany Lions win out, meaning they'd take down both Ohio State and Indiana, they can likely start thinking about the 2026 season.

Penn State remaining schedule

Here's a look at Penn State's remaining schedule.

DateOpponentTime (ET)
Oct. 18at Iowa7 p.m.
Nov. 1at No. 1 Ohio StateTBD
Nov. 8vs. No. 7 IndianaTBD
Nov. 15at Michigan StateTBD
Nov. 22vs. NebraskaTBD
Nov. 29at RutgersTBD

Daniel Mader

Daniel Mader is a Content Producer for The Sporting News. He joined SN in 2024 as an editorial intern following graduation from Penn State University. He has previously written for Sports Illustrated, NBC Sports, the Centre Daily Times, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Daily Collegian and LancasterOnline. Daniel grew up in Lancaster, Penn., with a love for baseball that’ll never fade, but could also talk basketball or football for days.