They all went through it, this road of gut punches and soul searching toward the college football elite.
Nick Saban still talks about the three third-down touchdown passes Florida completed to beat Alabama in the 2008 SEC championship game, preventing the Tide from playing for a national title.
Alabama then won three of the next four national championships.
Michigan lost twice in the College Football Playoff – once a rout (2021), once a humbling upset (2022) – before winning it all in 2023.
And now Ohio State, after so many near misses under coach Ryan Day, finally put it all together and won the whole damn thing.
Welcome to the grind, Penn State.
“I know how important winning is at Penn State,” Nittany Lions coach James Franklin said. “Trust me, that’s been made very clear to me, time and again.”
Close your eyes, and it may as well be Day explaining away the last three seasons. Or three months.
It may as well be Jim Harbaugh declaring Michigan will beat Ohio State, or die trying — before the Wolverines got it right.
Or Kirby Smart’s Alabama obstacle. Or Dabo Swinney finally breaking through at Clemson after the program’s near misses in big games were infamously dubbed Clemsoning.
It’s a brutal concoction of “what have you done for me lately” and “win or else.” With only one way out.
“This isn’t the end,” Penn State quarterback Drew Allar said earlier this month after the Lions lost to Notre Dame in the CFP semifinals. “We will be back.”
Franklin took a significant step late last week when he hired Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles to run his defense and replace Tom Allen, who left for the same job at Clemson. Knowles led the nation’s No.1 defense in 2024, a unit that dominated four Top 10 teams in the national title run.
Hiring Knowles not only shows significant commitment to a defense that returns the core of a strong unit – Knowles will be the highest-paid assistant coach in college football (a reported $3.1 million annually) – it also weakens Penn State’s Big Ten rival.
But before we go further, let’s not undersell the obvious: the next step for Penn State is about players. Elite-level players.
Alabama won national titles under Saban because he recruited better than anyone in the game. Now Smart does, and it should come as no surprise, Georgia is still considered the sport’s elite.
REPORT CARD: College football season grades for all 134 teams
LOOKING AHEAD: Our way-too-early college football Top 25 for 2025
Harbaugh and Day recruited well, then added impact players from the transfer portal to take big swings in big games. Michigan doesn’t win the 2023 national title without a dominant offensive line built almost solely through the portal.
Ohio State doesn’t win the national title last week without critical additions from the portal, including quarterback (Will Howard), running back (Quinshon Judkins) and safety (Caleb Downs).
So Penn State’s reload for 2025 began in the transfer portal with its greatest weakness from 2024, a hole so obvious, it ended with almost unthinkable production in the biggest game of the season.
Penn State’s wide receivers had zero catches in the CFP semifinal loss to Notre Dame. That’s right, not one catch.
Franklin signed Devonte Ross of Troy, the best Group of Five receiver in the portal. Ross, like Tre Harris two years ago at Louisiana Tech, put up huge numbers (76 catches, 11 touchdowns) at an inferior level of play. Harris then became one of the game’s best at Ole Miss.
If Penn State can get that type of transition from Ross, and get more from emerging Southern California transfer Kyron Hudson, Allar’s third season as a starter could mirror JJ McCarthy’s third season at Michigan.
A five-star recruit like Allar, McCarthy became elite when the Michigan offensive line improved, and the Wolverines could dictate tempo with a stout run game. If you want a template for Penn State’s reload, look to that 2023 Michigan team.
Penn State returns the core of a strong offensive line, and the defense will likely be the best in the Big Ten. Running backs Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton – who both reached 1,000 yards in 2024 – stayed for their senior seasons, and will give Penn State the ability to dictate tempo at the point of attack.
Just like Michigan did with running backs Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards.
“There’s a ton of guys coming back that are going to be hungry, and motivated for more,” Franklin said. “They’ve gotten a taste of what it feels like, and what it looks like and smells like.”
Welcome to the grind, Penn State.
If you’re fortunate along the way, you’ll be welcomed to the club of those who stuck it out and made it work.
And won the whole damn thing.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.