This is the first in a three-part series previewing the 2025 Penn State football season.
Let’s revisit a take that I got wrong a few seasons ago.
It’s one that I think about relatively frequently for a few reasons.
In fairness, it was the first game recap I wrote for this blog. But it’s mostly because I was wrong.
“On A Night With A Few Questions, Lambert-Smith Provides Answers”
In that piece, I wrote about how, on night one, KeAndre Lambert-Smith cemented himself as Drew Allar’s No. 1 receiving option – the biggest question entering the 2023 season.
And yeah, well, you remember how that turned out.
That question mark rolled into 2024 once again. Throughout last year’s offseason, the online hype train promised those questions would be answered. That Andy Kotelnicki — with no real portal help — would mastermind his way to figuring it out.
Then Penn State’s wide receiving corps had 0 receptions against Notre Dame and, yeah, well, you remember how that turned out.
Now it’s 2025. I’m comfortable with saying I got that one wrong back in 2023 and I’m comfortable with waiting for the proof that Penn State’s offense will be different this season.
And you should be too.
The hype train that left the station last offseason and then was derailed between the course of Penn State’s biggest games against Ohio State and Notre Dame seems to be off to a slow start as the first game of the season approaches. That’s a good thing. It seems that Penn State fans have collectively learned their lesson on sowing too much hope into what the offense can be.
Part of that is battle scars, too.
In Penn State’s biggest moments last season, Drew Allar had one pass-catching weapon in Tyler Warren. The tight end who is about to play for the Indianapolis Colts saved the day against USC (and even Bowling Green.)
Then Penn State’s biggest game last season, Allar had no one – and he barely had himself.
In the Orange Bowl, Allar went 12-for-23 for just 135 yards. All 12 of those passes either went to a tight end or a running back. None went to a player listed as a wide receiver. It was a frustrating moment because it was the first real moment where Allar truly could take Penn State to the place where so many have prophesied he would. It was a frustrating moment because it could have been somewhat avoidable in 2024 too.
So this offseason Penn State went to the portal to help mitigate those problems. It brought in three additions: Kyron Hudson from USC, Devonte Ross from Troy and Trebor Pena from Syracuse.
All three of whom put up strong numbers at their previous schools. Pena caught 84 passes in 2024 for 941 yards (209 more than anyone listed as a wide receiver on Penn State’s 2024 roster.) Ross scored 11 touchdowns (three more than any Nittany Lion pass catcher). And Hudson, with a highlight reel catch in USC’s first game, tallied 462 yards (which would have put him third on last year’s Penn State roster).
But that’s all last year. That is – except for Hudson – in different conferences than what Penn State is used to. That is, for all of them, in moments that weren’t quite as big as being in the last four teams left standing.
That’s where Penn State would have used them last year. That’s where Penn State could have used them last year. But this is not last year.
For Allar, it’s also not last year. He’s grown. We’ve seen it in the way he’s addressed the way last season ended. We’ve heard it from his coaches and his teammates, too. There is no doubt, too, that having another year with Kotelnicki back will be a benefit — as will having two of the three biggest weapons in that offense back for 2025.
It was Kotelnicki’s creativity that helped break the sophomore slump that Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton experienced in 2023. In 2024, Allen rushed for 1,108 yards. Singleton also eclipsed 1,000 yards. It was also that crack at something bigger than last year that brought both Allen and Singleton back — instead of heading off to the NFL.
That cohesiveness not only offers a shot at more success — and less dependence on Allar — but a crack at the top two spots on Penn State’s career rushing record list, a Maris-Mantle-like sidebar to the 2025 season.
That consistency and cohesion matter too. Penn State’s offense took legitimate strides forward last season. At times, it showed Kotelnicki was much better than his predecessor in Mike Yurcich. Kotelnicki helped Penn State’s rushing offense generate 18 more yards per game to lead the Big Ten in 2024. He helped Penn State win enough games to be one drive away from reaching the national title game.
At other moments, though, particularly in a goal-to-go situation against Ohio State and in the fact that Penn State averaged the same number of points per game in conference play, there was a general sense of deja vu between 2023 and 2024.
All of those factors add up to why I’m hesitant to be overly eager in my prospectus of Penn State’s offense this season. I’ve been there, done that. I’ve been burned by that before.
Even if that’s unfair – and somewhat contradictory to the point that this is a new year – during these last few seasons, we’ve uniformly planted our flag way too early by saying Penn State’s truly turned a corner when it comes to its offense.
Will Penn State’s offense be good in 2025? Yes. Was Penn State’s offense bad last year? No. (In case you haven’t heard or can’t remember) It was one bad throw away from potentially reaching the title game. Will Penn State’s offense likely be better than last year’s? Probably.
Will Penn State’s offense help it reach a national championship game like so many seem to think it can? Ask me in November at the earliest.
Why? Because all of those questions and all of those expectations don’t need to be answered now. All of those things are going to take time.
How they must be answered is in a 12-game march to the College Football Playoff. Then another three (or four)-game march to a national championship. That collective sum will be how we judge this season. That collective sum will be how we remember the Allar era. That collective sum could take Penn State to a place it hasn’t been since 1986.
But we’re not going to find the answer in game one against Nevada or even after game eight against Ohio State. As last year taught fans, it’s about the journey to making the playoffs. Then it will become a question of whether Penn State can make that deep run with this offense, or rather how this offense performs in that moment. That will determine whether or not this offense is better.
Only then will I believe Penn State’s offense is better this year. And that’s how you should approach it too.
Why? Because at minimum, based on all of the resources and changes and improvements and year-over-year consistency, Penn State should be at worst right back in the spot it was in on around 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 9, 2025 inside Hard Rock Stadium.
Only then will we be able to judge whether or not Penn State’s offense really is better than last year.
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