Way too early College Football Playoff predictions for the Nittany Lions

Penn State football is looking to return to the College Football Playoffs in 2025-26 and early projections are rolling out, painting what the Nittany Lions' fate may be.

Penn State suffered a 27-24 loss to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Orange Bowl to finish its season just before touching the title-winning contest. Quarterback Drew Allar overthrew his receivers throughout the game and had an untimely, costly interception that eventually led to Notre Dame kicker Mitch Jeter hitting the winning field goal.

It was a heartbreaking loss for the Nittany Lions and fans had an uproar once again about "Big Game James."

This season, though, is a chance for Penn State to redeem itself. Analysts started putting out way-too-early predictions at the beginning of the year and now as the Nittany Lions enter July, projections are getting tweaked.

On3's Brett McMurphy set his 12-team CFP layout, which was posted on X on July 1. McMurphy has Penn State as the No. 2 seed behind the Fighting Irish. After the first round, the Nittany Lions will move on to the semifinals, per McMurphy's projection. However, he has Penn State defeated once again for the second year in a row before having the opportunity to play for a championship.

Bill Bender of The Sporting News has the Nittany Lions as the fifth seed, beating No. 12 Navy in the first round then taking the quarter final game as well against No. 4 Clemson. All seems well until No. 1 Texas kills Penn State's hope of playing in the finals.

David Pollack put his thoughts about the Nittany Lions out there as well. He said that they'll need to replace their primary slash weapon tight end Tyler Warren if they hope to go far in the postseason.

Joel Klatt and Phil Steele, though, have a lot of faith in Penn State. Both are leaning on Franklin's team to win the championship — never mind make it to the game. Steele said that the Nittany Lions have all the right pieces to make it happen. Former Penn State tight end Adam Breneman agreed, adding in that they'll have a chip on their shoulders from Week 1.

There's no doubt that the Nittany Lions have a playoff-worthy team. The question is if they can follow all the way through to the end without costly mishaps. This means the wide receivers making those catches that didn't happen last season and Allar staying on top of his game. It takes one interception or one incomplete pass to end a season, and Penn State knows that all too well.