every year people predict Penn State to break out and take their game to the next level by that they mean they think the NY lions are going to go from 10 and two to potentially 12-0 or 11-1 unfortunately under James Franklin that has just not been able to happen and Penn State has not been able to get over the hump will things change in 2024 honestly I don't know I want to say that Penn State will either make the college football playoff or at least win the Big 10 but I just don't really know if it's going to happen on paper they have what it takes but will it finally happen I don't really know in today's video we're going to preview the 2024 Penn State NY Lions go through their roster talk about the story lines on the team the depth chart and how I think they will end up doing but before we get started if you're a big fan of college football be sure to subscribe to the channel leave a like if you to support today's video and let me know what player team topic or situation I can cover next now let's get started in preview of the 2024 Penn State NY Lions so in order to understand how Penn State got to this point we need to talk about the 2023 season first last year the lions were led by new starting quarterback Drew allar who was the number one quarterback in the class of 2022 and many were expecting him to take over right away they had a two-headed running back monster of KRON Allen and Nick Singleton and many were wondering who would take over at the wide receiver position they return to top 10 offensive lineman and a couple of really good defensive players so Penn State was supposed to potentially win the Big 10 in week one they' play against West Virginia and this game was awesome but it wasn't close they won 38 to 15 and then in week two they destroy Delaware 63 to7 in week three they go on the road to Champagne Illinois and they would play against Illinois the last time the two teams had played thei I won in seven overtimes but this time Penn State got the best of them in 130 to 13 after that they would have their wide out game and against number 24 Iowa it wasn't close they shut the Hawkeyes out 31 to Zer and many thought that Penn State was finally a different team and they're going to put it all together after that they go on the road to play against Northwestern and they' win that game 41-13 and in retrospect that's actually a pretty impressive win then after that they come home and beat UMass the lions were now six to know but everyone was wondering how would they do against Michigan and Ohio State well their first game would come against number three Ohio State and in this game Drew allar looked lost unfortunately things did not go according to plan and while they did only lose 20 to 12 it never really felt like they were in it and it felt very disappointing this was Penn State's first loss and then from there they'd almost blow it at home against Indiana luckily they had some fourth quarter magic and won the game but that could have been a catastrophic loss for them after that they went back and 51 to 15 over Maryland and then they get a chance to play against Michigan if they could somehow Beat the Wolverines they could get themselves back in the college football playoff picture unfortunately kind of like the Ohio State game it was close on paper but it really wasn't that close they ended up losing 24 to 15 now James Franklin lost the only two games that people really cared about on the schedule after that they beat ruter and then dismantled Michigan State 42 to0 nitty Lions went 10-2 but for the most part people were kind of disappointed they ended up playing in the peach ball against number 11 Old Miss and they ended up losing by a touchdown in that one what was really unfortunate is that the three toughest games on their schedule they lost and while it was only by one possession people were not too happy with that the Lions ended up going 10 and three and as I said people were disappointed and Drew allard's first year as a starter he ended up throwing for 2600 yards with 25 touchdowns and two picks and while that is a really solid statline he could have been more accurate and he just didn't play well in the biggest moments he was brought in to win Big Time game games and he just didn't do it at running back KRON Allen led the way with 92 yards and six touchdowns and then Nick Singleton ran for nearly 800 yards and eight touchdowns the two-headed monster was great and then in the receiving game Keandre Lambert Smith ended up Leading The Way with 673 yards and four scores and then their tight ends Tyler Warren and Theo Johnson both had seven touchdown passes Dante cus was a big-time transfer who was brought in and honestly he was a little bit disappointing on the defensive side of the ball Kevin Winston Jr led the way with 60 total tackles Adisa Isaac led the way with 7 and 1 half sacks dcoin Hardy led the way with seven pass deflections and Jaylen Reed led the way with two interceptions honestly it was a good year for Penn State but again it was also somewhat disappointing the Lions would end up sending eight players off to the NFL as Olu Fano went with the 11th overall pick to the Jets chop Robinson went with the 21st pick to the Dolphins and then they had two third round picks and Kaden Wallace and Adisa Isaac and then Theo Johnson ended up going to the Giants Hunter NORAD went to the Chiefs and then their defensive backs in decoin Hardy and kin King went to the bills and Packers they ended up losing a lot of talent and honestly I don't know if things really plug in that well based on their recruiting and their transfer portal Hall the Lions ended up signing the number 14 overall class which was headlined by five-star tight end Luke Reynolds interior offensive lineman Cooper cousins and then Blue Chip quarterback Ethan gruny honestly a five-star tight end is not going to make that much of an impact right away and then when you look at the transfer portal class it was kind of small they ended up bringing in former five star recruit Julian Fleming from Ohio State they brought in Jaylen kimw on his third stop after Florida they got Corner AJ Harris from Georgia two Wisconsin players and Jordan Mayer and Nolan Ruchi and then a kicker from Tulsa honestly both the recruiting class and the transfer Porter Hall were very underwhelming in my eyes and James Franklin is going to have to figure things out and in a hurry luckily though the coordinators have changed as they brought in the new offensive coordinator from Kansas who's really turned things around there and people are excited for him and then they got Tom Allen the former head coach from Indiana to run the defense after Manny Diaz took over at Duke when you take a look at the actual roster itself it feels a lot like last year's team on offens at lead in terms of the key players on the offense a quarterback you're have drew alar who's going to be expected to take a huge step up and then behind him you have their great backup in BO prula who I actually really like and then you have the Freshman Ethan gramy at the running back spot they bring back their two-headed monster as they'll have both Nick Singleton and KRON Allen back and honestly this is the best quarterback running back Duo Penn State has had in quite some time they really need to make the most of it behind that you have both cam Wallace and Quinton Martin Jr and then switching to the tight end spot they bring back Tyler Warren who should be one of the best tight ends in college football and then behind him you have khil dinkin and their true freshman Luke Reynolds in terms of their offensive line at Right Guard you're going to have s warmley at right tackle you could have noan ruchie you transferred in at Center you'll have Nick Dawkins and at left tackle you'll have drew Shelton there's also a guy who I'm not even going to try to pronounce his name at left guard in terms of the wide receiver spots Penn State kind of needed an overhaul Kaden Saunders should step up in the slot and then at the Z position you'll have Harrison Wallace thei the main option on the team should be Julian Fleming who's looking to fix his career after being somewhat disappointing at Ohio State and then the backups will include players such as Liam Clifford Tyler Johnson Omari Evans Maki flowers and Anthony Ivy honestly there's a lot of question marks at the receiver spot and I have no idea who's going to be their top guy honestly we could see another year where Penn State's tight end as their biggest playmaker but overall the offense still gets a B+ from they're going to rely on their offensive line their experienced quarterback and their two-headed monster at running back and they'll just need one or two players to step up at wide receiver to go alongside Tyler Warren on the defensive side of the ball I'm really excited for Abdul Carter and Kobe King and then other players who should have a huge impact are defensive then Danny Dennis Sutton Corner cam Miller and then safety Jaylen Reed obviously there's a couple of other players as well but honestly this penate roster is weird to me I think they have a couple players who have Superstar potential like ALR Singleton Allen and Abdul Carter but there's also a lot to figure out as well in terms of their schedule how do I think Penn State's going to do well things do lined up decently well for him in week one they travel on the road to West Virginia and in my eyes this could really be a trap game Neil Brown and Garrett green really got it going at the end of last year and West Virginia is going to be fired up I could see a world in which Penn State is caught napping But ultimately I think they're going to figure it out and win by a touchdown after that they come back home and play against Bowling Green and that game will be over by the first quarter insane with the Kent State matchup in week three Penn State will get off to a 3 and0 start before they're going to host Illinois the last time the fighting Ali came into Beaver Stadium they pulled off one of those crazy overtime Shockers but that is not going to happen again Illinois is not catching anybody by surprise and I'm not really too high on this Illinois team so I think Penn State cruises to 4-0 after that Penn State stays at home and they'll play against UCLA who as I've said in previous videos I'm also not very high on I don't know much about their new coach but UCLA kind of has to revamp their roster and I'm not expecting them to come into Beaver Stadium and win this Penn State goes to 5 and0 before they then have three straight major tests that'll determine the season it's not quite like last year where they had Ohio State and Michigan but Road matchups against USC Wisconsin and then at home against Ohio State are going to be challenging that first game comes on the road against the Trojans and honestly I have no idea who to pick in this game I think it is truly 50/50 and it's going to come down to how good Miller Moss is by this time in the year while it would be trendy for me to pick the Trojans to win this game I do think Penn State is better and I think they're going to run the ball down USC's throat and end up winning by a touchdown after that they're going to go on the road to play against Wisconsin and the last time Penn State went to Camp Randall it was a lot of fun and I think it'll be like that once again A lot of people are really high on Wisconsin but I'm not going to pick them to beat Penn State I think it'll be close but Penn State will then cruise to 7 and0 before the game of the year in the Big 10 as they will host Ohio State at home honestly I am really looking forward to this matchup but as much as want to pick Penn State to win I just can't do it every year I think Penn State will finally do it and they don't and Ohio State is really loaded at every single position and I think the Buckeyes win this game pretty easily Penn State has just not been able to show they can compete against the Buckeyes or pull it off so for now that'll be their first loss after that they're going to host Washington at home who's in major rebuild mode after kayin D'Or left for B and Jed fish came in from Arizona and they lost pretty much everyone on the roster Penn State should win this game pretty easily and the same thing will happen against Purdue the last time they played in Ross a stadium they had to have a come from behind Victory but it's not going to be the case this time as I think they're going to go in and beat Purdue very easily after that they're going to go on the road and play against Minnesota and I'm not very high on this Minnesota team either and it's not going to be like 2019 when the Golden Gophers knocked Penn State out a playoff contention I said that's not going to happen and then they finish the year with Maryland I don't like this Maryland team either and I think Penn State wins by three or four scores if you do the math that means that the lions are going to have an 11-1 record with the one loss coming to Ohio State honestly their schedule is not difficult at all as that USC Wisconsin and Ohio State stretch is really going to determine the year luckily they have a buy game between the USC and Wisconsin matchups which is why I think they're going to win both of them ultimately I think they're to go two and one in that three- game stretch and while there's a remote chance they upset Ohio State I don't think there's any way they win all three of them we're really just going to have to wait and see but an 11-1 record would likely get Penn State into the Big 10 championship and it would definitely get them into the college football playoffs which is exactly what James Franklin needs to do to get him off the hot seat I don't know if he's necessarily on the hot seat but he really does need to perform overall I think Penn State will have a really good year but I don't know if I'm going to be picking them to go that far in the playoff their schedule's kind of weak and for now we'll just have to wait and see but what do you guys think if you're a Penn State fan what do you think of my analysis who will be the key players for this year's team and how do you think they're going to do be sure to let me know down below leave a like if you need to support today's video let me know what team I should cover next subscribe if you're new and check out all my the videos on the end screen including my video previewing the organ docks I hope to see you guys again soon but until next time peace