The 2025 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented Pennsylvania State University as a member of the Big Ten Conference during the 2025 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team played home games at Beaver Stadium located in College Township, Pennsylvania, with a mailing address of University Park, Pennsylvania. Despite high preseason expectations, including a No. 2 Week 0 ranking in the AP poll and a 3–0 start, Penn State's season would collapse starting in week 5 with a home loss in double overtime against No. 6 Oregon. This was followed by a 42–37 loss at a winless UCLA team, despite being 25.5-point favorites. The defeat is widely considered one of the worst in program history and one of the largest upsets in college football history. As a result of this loss, the team dropped out of the AP Top 25. On October 11, Penn State suffered another home loss against Northwestern after quarterback Drew Allar suffered a season-ending leg injury late in the fourth quarter, forcing redshirt freshman backup quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer to the starting role. Three additional losses followed: at Iowa, 25–24; at then-No. 1 Ohio State, 38–14; and vs. then-No. 2 Indiana, 27–24. These extended the team's losing streak to six games. By the end of week 7, Penn State's 2025 season had been characterized as a "historic collapse" by multiple sports publications as the Nittany Lions became the first NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) program to lose back-to-back matchups as a 20-point favorite. The Nittany Lions eventually rebounded by winning their last 3 games to finish the regular season 6–6, their worst record since also going 6–6 in 2014 outside the 4–5 pandemic year in 2020. They secured a 7–6 record by defeating Clemson in the Pinstripe Bowl 22–10. The team was led by 12th-year head coach James Franklin for the first six games of the season; Franklin was fired on October 12 following the loss to Northwestern. Associate head coach Terry Smith was named the Nittany Lions' interim head coach. Wiki link