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The 2025 Penn State football team has massive expectations this year, given the number of playmakers coming back and the talent coming in. Many fans and analysts are pointing to the issue with the Nittany Lions, James Franklin, and whether he can get over the hump and win a big game. That pressure only gets ramped up with Penn State being a national title favorite.
Since becoming the coach of the Penn State football program in 2014, James Franklin has won many games, but has struggled in big moments. Recently, Franklin detailed a conversation with the best coach of all time, Nick Saban, and how that feedback might shape his team moving forward.
Franklin elaborated on what he talked about with Nick Saban, “I’m on a walk the other day, I pick up the phone and call coach (Nick) Saban, right? ‘You’ve been in this situation before.’ He had excellent feedback, as you could imagine. I’ve watched all the stuff, and you’ve had several conversations. We were in the league together. But that was good.”
It is worth noting that Franklin did not go too in-depth about what he talked about with coach Saban, but he got some wisdom from one of the best coaches in football, which means a lot.
“A lot of times it’s not that they’re going to tell you anything different, they’re reinforcing what you already know, and there’s value in that,” he said.
He talked about all this in an interview with Josh Pate. Another aspect of the interview that stands out is that Franklin is excited about what his assistant coaches can do and their experience.
“I think the other thing is leaning in,” Franklin said. “Stan Drayton has been a part of, I think, three national championships, right? Jim Knowles just had a national championship last year.
“So I’m encouraging Jim to say, ‘Look, I was a part of it. This is what it looks like. What we just did at practice yesterday, that’s what it looks like. This doesn’t. This is not aligned with championship-level football.’ So I’m encouraging them to talk about it, because we want to grow from their experiences.”
The Penn State football team opens the year as the second-ranked team in all college football after the preseason AP Poll. Drew Allar, Nic Singleton, and Kaytron Allen are all back for a final season in the Penn State backfield. After adding Trebor Pena and Kyron Hudson, the receiving corps should also be much better.
The Penn State football defense should also be even better this season after Jim Knowles came over from Ohio State to replace Tom Allen, who left for Clemson.
