The Penn State Nittany Lions are looking to take the next step as a program after making the College Football Playoff before losing in the semifinal matchup against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. However, Paul Finebaum is not impressed with the team’s 2025 schedule as he feels there are too many easy nonconference games.
Let’s take a look at Finebaum’s full comments and what it looks like for Penn State heading into this season.
Paul Finebaum Has Issue with Penn State’s Schedule
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While appearing on ESPN’s First Take, ESPN commentator Paul Finebaum discussed the Penn State Nittany Lions and how he is fascinated with the program heading into the 2025 college football season.
“If you want to pick one school that I’m fascinated by, and that’s Penn State, they should be the best team in the Big Ten. And I’m not going to just, you know, go typical anti-James Franklin here, because I happen to respect him a lot as a coach, but he still has the most to prove of the major schools that are in contention. I don’t by them being number one, although Mr. Kevin Clark, you have to look long and hard to find three more embarrassing non-conference opponents than what Penn State has.
“I thought I retired the trophy, but nobody has ever retired a trophy more embarrassing than Penn State. That is a disgrace for a Big Ten school to play three cupcakes like that. I mean, well, you have LSU and Clemson. You have Miami and Notre Dame. I mean, you have Ohio State hosting Texas. And I can’t even remember what directional school Penn State’s opening with, because it’s that bad.”
Penn State is, in fact, not starting their season with a directional school as their first game will be hosting the Nevada Wolf Pack on Aug. 30. However, their nonconference schedule does not have many challenges, which was the main point of Finebaum’s comments. It will be intriguing to see how James Franklin and the Nittany Lions look in 2025.
