Penn State’s 2025 football schedule has officially been released and includes 3 2024 CFP teams

With the 2024 college football regular season already in the rearview mirror and the Oregon Ducks crowned the champions of the Big Ten, the conference released its 2025 schedule on Wednesday afternoon. With the conference expanded to 18 teams, schedule releases are more important than ever because teams can get favorable, lopsided schedules like Indiana did in 2024, avoiding Oregon and Penn State on its way to 11-1 and a spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff. 

Penn State also had a favorable draw in 2024, playing just two teams that finished ranked in the final CFP top 25, Ohio State and Illinois. The Nittany Lions avoided Michigan and Oregon, the latter until the Big Ten Championship Game on Saturday night, a 45-37 Ducks win, and also claimed an at-large bid into the playoff. Schedule release day isn’t always predictive, because this time last year, drawing Michigan and Washington for 2024 would have looked like a nightmare, but both teams struggled to become bowl-eligible. Still, it can provide some clarity to the future of the program, and now, we get to take a sneak peek at the 2025 Penn State football season. 

Penn State’s schedule is certainly tougher in 2025 than it was in 2024, with Oregon coming to Happy Valley in Week 5 and a trip to Columbus in Week 10. It’s safe to assume that both programs will be national championship contenders again, and Penn State may need to escape one of those two matchups with a win because there likely won’t be any other big tests the rest of the way. 

Penn State opted for a very soft non-conference schedule, hosting Nevada, FIU, and Villanova before a bye week and starting Big Ten play against Oregon. If the Nittany Lions cannot knock off either the Ducks or the Bucks, then a Week 11 game at Beaver Stadium against Indiana could decide the fate of their at-large CFP candidacy. If the Hoosiers are a Big Ten contender in Curt Cignetti’s second season, a win in that game could be meaningful, but if the program craters after a hot start to his tenure, there may not be a resume-building win on Penn State’s schedule. 

Of course, the best plan is to make sure it’s not up to the CFP committee. If Drew Allar returns for his second season in Andy Kotelnicki’s offense and James Franklin aggressively pursues talent in the transfer portal, the Nittany Lions will have a real shot at their first Big Ten title since 2016.