It’s a pivotal year for Penn State. Can James Franklin’s Nittany Lions be dominant in 2025?

Gary Danielson has seen many championship-level teams in his 20 seasons in the CBS broadcast booth. On Saturday, when Penn State, ranked No. 2 to start the season, opens with Nevada (3:30 p.m., CBS3), Danielson will be in the booth to kick off his 36th and final season as a broadcaster.

Last year, Danielson and play-by-play man Brad Nessler called four Penn State games that aired on CBS: wins over Southern California, Purdue, and Minnesota, and a Big Ten title game loss to Oregon.

Danielson, a quarterback at Purdue from 1969 to 1972, thought Penn State was “capable of winning” the College Football Playoff championship last season. What does he think of James Franklin’s squad this year, which returns 14 starters from a team that fell short in the CFP semifinal?

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“I do feel that this team can be a dominant team. They’re deeper, they’re wider. And what I mean by wider, they’re going to have another attack with their passing game that they really shied away from last year that ended up costing them,” Danielson told The Inquirer. “I think a lack of connection between their quarterback [Drew Allar] and their wide receivers cost them, and I think that should be rectified this year. I really hope that [offensive coordinator] Andy [Kotelnicki], even if he doesn’t need them, uses their wide receivers in every game so that when he needs to call on them in a key game, they’ll be ready.”

The comparisons between this Penn State team and the last two national champions, Ohio State and Michigan, are easy to see. Danielson also sees the comparisons, but he took it a step further in comparing how this year’s group is built similarly to the Georgia and Alabama programs that won titles earlier this decade.

“Alabama lost to Joe Burrow’s [LSU] team in 2019 … but they had many pro players that came back for [2020], and they ended up winning that championship because of that bad taste with LSU,” Danielson said. “Same thing with Georgia. They had a great team, and they lose in [2020]. All of them came back and forgo the NFL and ended up going back-to-back.

“Well, that’s the story here, and there’s been a trend. These teams have done it, they’ve stayed focused, the NFL players that could be going out to make a lot of money are back on the football team, and they want to have a championship, and I think that’s a similarity of what’s happened the last few years.”

As the Nittany Lions’ quest for another deep CFP run begins this weekend, here are four storylines to watch as the 2025 season unfolds:

The Nittany Lions’ defensive alignment will look different this season, shifting from a 4-3 base defense to more of a 4-2-5 alignment, meaning a nickel cornerback will be on the field consistently under new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles.

Since the spring, Franklin has harped on quickly installing and meshing Knowles’ defense with what Penn State has run previously. That includes mixing up coverages to prevent being predictable in big spots.

During Penn State media day, associate head coach and cornerbacks coach Terry Smith was confident in his secondary picking up Knowles’ complex defense and says “it’s been a good challenge for our guys.”

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“We’ve always played great defense here, and now under Coach Knowles’ direction, we want to make sure we’re the very best,” said Smith, who believes this group of defensive backs is the best he’s had at Penn State. “Every year we’ve been top 10. Heck, I’ve been here 12 years, and we’ve probably been top 10 at least eight of those years, but there’s a race to be No. 1 and be the consistent No. 1. And not just be No. 1, but be dominant and play winning defense that helps your team win the big games.”

Safety Zakee Wheatley, cornerback A.J. Harris, and nickel corner Zion Tracy will return as starters from a year ago. The linebackers will be asked to do more in coverage, with Tony Rojas, Dom DeLuca, and transfer Amare Campbell set to be key players on the second level of the defense.

Having edge rusher Dani Dennis-Sutton and defensive tackle Zane Durant back along the defensive line should form another strong front four, coached by Philly native Deion Barnes.

Two freshmen, edge rusher Chaz Coleman and defensive back Daryus Dixson, have been “green-lighted” by Franklin’s staff and also could factor into the defensive plan this season.

North Philly native Abdul Carter is off to the NFL, but that doesn’t mean the cupboard is barren regarding local talent at Penn State. Downingtown West grad Drew Shelton once again will man the left tackle spot on the Nittany Lions’ offensive line and is the only local starter for Penn State.

But Tyseer Denmark, the former Imhotep Charter standout, likely will rotate in behind transfer portal addition Trebor Peña as one of the outside receivers. Denmark, according to special teams coordinator Justin Lustig, could factor in as a punt returner this season, too.

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Kenny Woseley, another Imhotep grad, will take snaps at nickel behind Tracy this season, along with Kolin Dinkins. “We feel really good about all three of them,” Franklin said Monday.

Edge rusher Mylachi Williams (Bonner-Prendergast) and transfer Enai White (Imhotep) should factor into the defensive line rotation. White, who played at Texas A&M last season, moved from edge rusher to defensive tackle during preseason camp.

“We are going to move Enai inside,” Franklin said earlier this month. “I think long-term, it’s his best position in terms of being able to play the game as long as he can.”

The obvious games circled on the calendar for the Nittany Lions this season are against Oregon (Sept. 27) and Ohio State (Nov. 1), but there are a few other games to keep a close eye on.

Last season’s trip to USC nearly ended in a loss as Penn State rallied from a 14-point halftime deficit. This season, the Nittany Lions make a cross-country trip to UCLA (Oct. 4) a week after facing Oregon in front of a “White Out” crowd. The Bruins brought in transfer Nico Iamaleava, who should be a massive upgrade at quarterback.

Two weeks after that, Penn State will travel to Iowa (Oct. 18) for a likely night game at Kinnick Stadium, where Franklin has escaped with some close wins (2017, 2019) and suffered a disastrous loss (2021). That last matchup featured quarterback Sean Clifford getting hurt before halftime. It’s a tough environment, and the Hawkeyes brought in South Dakota State transfer quarterback Mark Gronowski to improve their offense.

Beyond facing Ohio State to open November, Penn State will face Indiana (Nov. 8), which also made the CFP last season, along with Michigan State (Nov. 15) and Nebraska (Nov. 22), both of which could take a step forward in 2025. The back half of Penn State’s schedule cannot be overlooked, even after the results of the Oregon and Ohio State games.

The wide receivers, a major talking point for Franklin throughout the preseason and to whom Danielson alluded as well, are under the microscope. Peña, USC transfer Kyron Hudson, and Troy transfer Devonte Ross helped reshape a unit that struggled throughout last season.

Franklin believes “we have a two-deep that we think we can win with.” Denmark, Liam Clifford, and freshman Koby Howard round out six receivers expected to play significant snaps. Tight ends Khalil Dinkins, Andrew Rappleyea, and Luke Reynolds also will be a big part of the passing game.

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But ultimately, Allar, the senior quarterback who finished last season with 3,327 yards and 24 touchdowns in 16 starts, will “determine how far this Penn State team will go.”

“No matter how good this team is or how loaded it is, there’ll be those two or three games where they’ve got to make the clutch play,” Danielson said. “And last year, they did it with a fake punt [against Minnesota]. They did it in different ways. Drew made some big plays, and I’m not saying he didn’t make any big plays, because I saw him make some big ones, but he’s got to make those big plays in the big game with two minutes to go. And I think he will.”