Former Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles made his way over to Happy Valley after the 2024-25 season and became just one more piece to the elite Penn State football team for the coming season.
At 2025 Big Ten Media Days, third-year starting quarterback Drew Allar talked about the impact Knowles already has, specifically on the offense.
"I’ve actually been able to sit down with [Knowles] and a couple of guys that he brought over from Ohio State, and really sit back and watch the game from last year and just really understand their philosophy," Allar said. ". . . why they were calling certain things and maybe the tells that I had, we had as an offense."
An insight into the reigning national championships is never a bad thing, especially ahead of a season where the Nittany Lions need to prove they can compete with top ranked teams. Last season, Penn State fell to Oregon in the Big Ten Championship and Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff semifinals.
The Nittany Lions are 4-20 against AP top 10 schools and all of their losses in 2024-25 were against the top five. That's already a pattern head coach James Franklin needs to break on top of finally getting a "big-game" win (e.g. the Big Ten Championship or CFP games). In the 2025 regular season, Penn State needs to pull out crucial wins against the Ducks in Week 5, the Buckeyes in Week 10, and the Indiana Hoosiers in Week 11.
"We definitely need to get over that hump, there's no question about it, Allar said. "But we’ve also been one of the most consistent programs over his tenure . . . we [just] need to find different ways to come out with different results in those games. We haven't really been blown out of the water by any team . . . It's just about execution . . . finding those areas to make one or two more plays throughout those games . . . That's going to be our focus."
Allar knows the Nittany Lions have the experience to win the national championship in 2026 in their returners and transfers. He said that even though he could've declared for the draft after his junior campaign, his intentions in returning were to win championships. Penn State is currently the frontrunner to win the Big Ten and is a top six team to win the 2026 CFP.