Penn State

Offense: What isn’t to like about this offense? Drew Allar will always be a team-first guy, but he will also be playing for something extra this season with the NFL Draft looming in April as a possible first-round pick. Mix in an experienced line and two very good RBs who could have went the NFL last year, and it’s very good unit. We’ll see about all three WRs that transferred in, but there’s a lot of good things being said about all of them.

Defense: Just like the offense, there’s so many returners on defense that it’s hard not to like the Lions’ unit this season. Linebackers are a little more thin than usual with really only Tony Rojas and Dominic DeLuca back along with transfer Amare Campbell, but there’s experience stacked on both the defensive line and secondary. Don’t forget the guy in charge of the defense just won a national championship with Ohio State last season.

Special teams: As far as kickers go, Ryan Barker was about as reliable as you could possibly want in a player that wasn’t the starter at the beginning of last year. Barker was 15 for 18 on field goals after Sander Sahaydak struggled to a 2-of-5 start. Riley Thompson returns as the team’s punter, and there won’t be any shortage of kick and punt returners to choose from.

Coaching/intangibles: It’s kind of an all-star coaching staff if you can have that in college sports. James Franklin has his most talented roster in his tenure in State College. He has two of the best coordinators the sport has to offer in Andy Kotelnicki and Jim Knowles. There’s also a pretty good staff in place. The makings are there for a special season.

Nevada

Offense: Nevada scored 23 points per game last season, but who knows what the Wolf Pack could be in for this season? There’s been a ton of turnover from their roster with 54 new players. One of the remaining returners is quarterback Chubba Purdy, the brother of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, and the older Purdy has carved out quite a nice career. It was a decent offense last year, but it’s now a brand new one.

Defense: The Wolf Pack gave up 28.7 points per game last year in the Mountain West, which is normally a conference that has very good offenses. Again, a lot of new faces. The leading tackler (linebacker Stone Combs) returning finished fourth on the team last year with 58 stops. They have no one returning who intercepted a pass last year. Simply put, a lot of new faces mean a lot of unknowns.

Special teams: There are only two kickers on the roster. Redshirt senior Joe McFadden appeared in 22 games at UConn in 2021 and 2023. Keaton Emmett, a sophomore, spent his freshman season at NAIA Western Oregon, where he converted on 12 of 18 field goals with a long of 48. They have also have two punters with experience at junior colleges.

Coaching/intangibles: Jeff Choate is in the middle of a clear rebuild with the Wolf Pack, and it’s hard to be extremely critical when you’re only in the second year of it. He had some success at the FBS level at Montana State where he made it to the national semifinals, and that program needed rebuilt when he took over. He could build a winner at Nevada, but it probably will take time.

Advantages

Penn State in all categories

Stine’s prediction

Yawn. Let’s fast forward to the Oregon game. Penn State 51, Nevada 7