Ranking Penn State Football’s 2025 Schedule from Easiest to Toughest Game
As Penn State Football approaches the 2025 college football season with sky-high expectations, the Nittany Lions are slowly finding out details about the timing of the 2025 schedule.
Last week, Penn State announced that the Nittany Lions’ annual White Out will return to their biggest home game of the season, against the defending Big Ten champion Oregon Ducks.
While the Nittany Lions still play both the Ducks and the reigning National Champion Ohio State Buckeyes in 2025, the Nittany Lions’ non-conference schedule and balance of the Big Ten schedule are far from a Murderer’s Row.
Ranking Penn State Football’s Games from Easiest to Hardest in 2025
Easiest: Home vs. Villanova
Penn State’s non-conference schedule in 2025 features one FCS team, Villanova, and two bottom-15 teams in Nevada and FIU.
Villanova ranks as the easiest game on the Nittany Lions’ schedule.
While the Wildcats went 10-4 in 2024 and lost in the second round of the FCS playoffs, the differences in scholarship limits and roster makeup between FCS and FBS competition put Villanova at a serious disadvantage coming in to Beaver Stadium this fall.
Home vs. FIU
The second easiest game on Penn State’s schedule is a toss-up between FIU and Nevada.
FIU went 4-8 in 2024, losing all six games away from home. Heading into 2025, the Panthers rank 129th in ESPN’s SP+ ranking and do not project to be a real threat to the Nittany Lions in week two this season.
Home vs. Nevada
Penn State’s first game of the season projects to be a blowout, as the Nittany Lions are early 43.5 point favorites to start the 2025 season. Nevada ranks slightly above FIU in the SP+ rankings at 124th.
Home vs. Northwestern
Moving to the Nittany Lions’ 2025 Big Ten schedule, Penn State’s October tilt against Northwestern ranks as the next easiest game on Penn State’s schedule.
The Wildcats finished the 2024 season 4-8, including a 2-7 conference record. The Wildcats don’t project to be a whole lot better in 2025, ranking 87th in SP+.
At Michigan State
After a one-season hiatus, Penn State’s Land Grant Trophy rivalry with Michigan State returns in 2025.
Penn State Football leads the all-time series for one of the most unique trophies in sports 19-18-1. In the last meeting between Penn State and Michigan State, Penn State trounced Michigan State 42-0 in the final game of the 2023 regular season.
The 2025 game may be a bit closer, but potentially not much. The Spartans rank 64th in SP+ and have an over/under of just 5.5 wins for 2025.
After a year away…
The majestic Land-Grant Trophy returns to our lives on November 15, 2025.
Rejoice. https://t.co/RIYjRFneL5 pic.twitter.com/sWRslkrm0L
— Ben Stevens (@BenScottStevens) December 11, 2024
At UCLA
Travel out to the West Coast could make this game a bit more difficult than expected, but the talent difference between the two rosters should still make this a relatively easy game for the Nittany Lions.
The Nittany Lions beat the Bruins 27-11 last season in a sleepy early October matchup that never felt that close. Heading into the 2025 matchup, the Bruins rank 51st in SP+ and an over/under of only 4.5 wins this season.
At Rutgers
Penn State vs Rutgers has been one of the most lopsided matchups throughout college football history. Penn State holds a 23-2 overall record against the Scarlet Knights and a current 17-game win streak in the series. Rutgers ranks 45th in SP+ heading into 2025 and has a projected win total of 6.5.
Home vs. Nebraska
If some vocal Penn State fans would have gotten their way a few years ago, Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule could have been on the Penn State sideline instead of the Nebraska sideline in this matchup.
Instead, the former Penn State letterman returns to Beaver Stadium for the first time since a close 34-27 loss against Penn State when he was the head coach at Temple in 2016. Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola could make this interesting if he lives up to his former five-star potential. Nebraska ranks 34th in SP+ in 2025.
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Home vs. Indiana
Indiana was the surprise college football playoff team last season, after Curt Cignetti quickly turned around the Hoosiers team and won 11 games for the first time in program history.
Indiana projects to be good again in 2025, but getting the Hoosiers at home will help the Nittany Lions. Indiana ranks 23rd in SP+ and has an over/under of 8.5 wins for 2025.
At Iowa
Next season, I believe Indiana will be the tougher opponent for the Nittany Lions, however, traveling to Kinnick is always a nightmare for opposing teams, hence the higher ranking on this list.
The Hawkeyes rank 28th in SP+ and hold an over/under of just 6.5 wins. Iowa will need some Kinnick magic to pull off an upset, but that is a place you can never count that out.
Home vs. Oregon
Penn State will get help against the Oregon Ducks in 2025, with the Nittany Lions finally getting their wish to put the biggest home game at night for the annual White Out.
Even with the White Out advantage, the Nittany Lions will have their hands full with the Ducks in 2025. Oregon beat Penn State 45-37 in the 2024 Big Ten championship and the Ducks once again project to be a top five team heading into 2025.
At Ohio State
No one else could have taken this top spot.
The Ohio State Buckeyes are the reigning National Champions and have been the Nittany Lions’ bogeyman for the past 9 years since a miracle 2016 upset.
Ohio State lost a ton of talent to the NFL draft this spring, but the Buckeyes still project to have one of the top rosters in the country next season.
To make this game even harder, the Nittany Lions have to travel out to the Horseshoe to face the Buckeyes, where they haven’t won since 2011. The Nittany Lions will need to play their best ball of the season to escape Columbus with an upset in 2025.
The Nittany Lions finally broke through to the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history in 2024.
With expectations even higher for 2025, the Nittany Lions will need to take advantage of their easy non-conference schedule to stack up wins.
Without a high strength of schedule in the non-conference slate, the Nittany Lions must avoid a bad loss next season to keep themselves in the mix for an at-large slot if the Nittany Lions do not get past Ohio State or Oregon.
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