Sportsbooks set Penn State football 2025 win total as highest in the country

In 2024, Penn State won 13 games for the first time in program history, and James Franklin’s team still lost three times, including in the Big Ten Championship and the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Orange Bowl. With the expanded 12-team CFP, teams that play in their conference’s title game, the first round of the CFP, and make it to the national championship will play 17 games, but the regular season is still just 12 games and the sportsbooks expect the Nittany Lions to win plenty of those. 

Penn State went 11-1 in the regular season in 2024 and managed to return quarterback Drew Allar along with plenty of key pieces on both sides of the ball. Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen are hanging around Happy Valley for their senior season and so are star pass rusher Dani Dennis-Sutton, defensive lineman Zane Durant, and veteran safety Zakee Wheatley. With so much talent heading into 2025, FanDuel Sportsbook has set its regular season win total for the Nittany Lions at 10.5. 

The expansion of the Big Ten to 18 teams means there will be unbalanced schedules. The Nittany Lions aren’t fortunate enough to miss Ohio State in 2025 and they’ll host Oregon at Beaver Stadium to open conference play, but at least they don’t have to go through Michigan and five-star freshman QB Bryce Underwood on the quest to 11 wins. 

That win total of 10.5 matches the highest in the country, but FanDuel doesn’t necessarily expect the Nittany Lions to win 11 games or claim the Big Ten crown. The under is heavily juiced at -170 odds, meaning the oddsmakers expect 10 or fewer wins, likely with two losses coming to Ohio State and Oregon, which both have 10.5 win totals as well. 

Across his 11 years at Penn State, Franklin has won at least 11 games five times, but only once (2024), did he reach 11 wins in the regular season.