'Natty or Bust'? Big Ten Players, Coaches Scout Penn State

College football can't stop talking about Penn State, which enters the 2025 season as one of the College Football Playoff's lead championship contenders. Even Nittany Lions coach James Franklin acknowledged this to an extent, calling his 2025 team the best combination of talent and coaching he has had in 12 years.

"I'm extremely proud and I'm extremely confident, but again, there is complete recognition and embracing what we got to do and where we got to go," Franklin said at Big Ten Football Media Days. "And the best part about it is, we're in total control of it, right? If we want the narrative to change, we got an opportunity to change it. We want people to shut up? We can shut them up real easy."

But what does the Big Ten think about Penn State? We spent a few days at Big Ten Media Days canvassing players and coaches for their thoughts on the Nittany Lions. Turns out, there's high expectations in the conference for Penn State, which topped Cleveland.com's preseason Big Ten media poll for the first time in 15 years.

Is it 'Natty or Bust' for Penn State?

The Nittany Lions return so much talent from their 2024 team that went 13-3 and reached the College Football Playoff semifinals that the comparisions have become common. Penn State is following the model that Michigan and Ohio State used the past two seasons to win their national championships.

"I think they’re probably 'natty or bust' this year," Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles said. "That’s how they’re feeling. They’ve got a lot of guys who came back for their last year: Drew [Allar] the two running backs, got a few guys on defense that are in their last year as well, so I know they’re going to be a great team."

FOX Sports' Joel Klatt has been a big proponent of this narrative dating to the spring, when he placed Penn State atop his early top-25. Like Michigan and Ohio State the past two seasons, Penn State is a veteran team with an experienced quarterback.

"Both of those teams had a core group of veteran players stay," Klatt said on his podcast. "They stayed and they won a championship. Both of those teams had veterans at quarterback. They had veterans on both sides of the ball. They were excellent at the line of scrimmage. They had chips on their shoulders from the way that they were bounced in the postseason in years prior. All of that is true about Penn State."

Jim Knowles is a difference-maker

Franklin targeted Knowles last winter for a number of reasons, not the least of which was his success against the Nittany Lions. Knowles' Ohio State defenses allowed Penn State just one offensive touchdown in two games. Knowles also has been a key resources for Allar, with whom he watched last year's Penn State-Ohio State game to provide a detailed scouting report from the other sideline.

Styles played for Knowles and knows first-hand how detailed and exacting the defensive coordinator can be.

"Coach Knowles is a great coach," Styles said. "I'd say he's a very smart, intuitive thinker. [He has] so many great ideas with the way he thinks about different ways to play defense, whether it's disguises or different blitzes and stuff like that. He's like a perfectionist, but he understands you're not going to be perfect, if that makes sense. So we just strive to be perfect, but he knows we’re going to come up short of that. But he does a great job, and I think he’s going to do a great job at Penn State as well."

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz certainly got a taste of Knowles' defense in a pair of games that Ohio State won by a combined score of 89-17. He will see Knowles again in October, when the Nittany Lions visit Iowa City.

"I’ve got tremendous respect for coach Knowles," Ferentz said. "I thought that was a great hire [for Penn State]. To me it seemed like a really smart hire, watching them work the way they did [at Ohio State]. It’s a tough scheme, a good scheme. They’ve had good players, but [Knowles'] guys play hard, they’re really sound, they don’t give you anything easy. And my guess is that’s what Penn State will look like next year, too."