By Chris Buchignani
Penn State football hasn’t seen a number this small next to its name this early for a very long time.
The Nittany Lions open the 2025 season ranked No. 2 in the Associated Press preseason poll, a first for the program, which last reached the two-spot in October of 2017, only to lose it weeks later in Columbus. In terms of the preseason, State has not been rated this highly since the ill-fated 1999 team began the year ranked third. Perhaps even more striking than the ranking itself is the number of first-place votes awarded to the Lions (23), only two shy of No. 1 Texas! This show of faith from the nation’s voters that James Franklin’s squad belongs near the top of college football is both a compliment and a burden.
Make no mistake; for fans, it is a rush. That “2” is a trophy in itself – gratifying attention and further validation of the steady drumbeat around returning talent, promising transfers, and splashy coaching hires that has been emanating from Happy Valley all offseason and only grown in intensity. It’s the kind of news that sends alumni group chats into overdrive, pushes ticket resale prices a little higher, and makes the tailgate menu planning feel just a bit more urgent. But it’s also something else: a sobering reminder that the higher you climb, the further you can fall.
Sports fandom is an exercise in emotional investment with no guaranteed return. A lofty preseason ranking comes preloaded with a mental list of possible pitfalls: trap games, hostile road trips, key injuries, the dreaded one bad bounce of the ball, and the even more horrific looming legacies of a five-star quarterback and top-10 coach who go to pieces in the moment of truth. For fans, who are passionate, loyal, and sometimes superstitious to the point of absurdity, the stakes feel personal. For all the changes that many claim have cheapened the sport and frayed the ties that bind team to community, the most loyal Nittany Lions still treasure the memory of every win and carry the sting of the most painful losses around for a lifetime. In a town and a University culture where football transcends entertainment, where it’s woven into the rhythm of the year, the possibility of disappointment can start to crowd out the joy of the ride.
“What if they can’t win a big game? What if Ohio State beats us… again? What if we waste all this generational talent? What if…?”
It’s a paradox that the same fervor that fuels college football’s magic can also make it exhausting. That attachment is why a preseason No. 2 ranking can produce both euphoria and dread. It’s the knowledge that this group of players and coaches, in this year, might have the goods to go all the way, and that anything short of that will sting. It’s a precarious emotional balance, and not everyone manages it gracefully.
But here’s the thing: if the entire experience becomes a referendum on whether the season ends with confetti falling in January, you miss the best parts. The journey of a college football season is not a neat, linear climb. It’s a winding, weekly tour through Autumn Saturdays, each with its own textures — the first crisp morning of September, the Homecoming parade rolling down College Avenue, the smell of grilled sausage drifting over the tailgate fields, the long exhale of a fourth-quarter defensive stand.
This year, with the Nittany Lions starting from such a lofty perch, the danger is in holding your breath for four months waiting to see if they can stay there. The antidote is to treat every game, every weekend, as a chapter worth savoring on its own, whether it’s the white-hot electricity of a White Out or the quieter joy of a victory salted away early in the first half. The best way to avoid the anxiety of what might be is to remain laser-focused on what is.
Penn State has had years when August brought more hope than proof, when the conversation was about building toward something rather than being in the thick of it. A preseason No. 2 ranking reminds us of everything it took to get here, and what we here in the present owe to our predecessors, our past selves included, in savoring it. It’s a rare moment when talent, experience, and opportunity align in a way that puts the nation on notice.
So as Penn State steps onto the field carrying the weight of a No. 2 ranking, the challenge for the fan base is to resist the urge to clutch too tightly at the possibility of perfection. Let the season breathe. Enjoy the sunrise over Mount Nittany on a Saturday morning without wondering how it will feel if the team stumbles that afternoon. Cheer for the long touchdown passes and the grinding goal-line stands without calculating what they’ll mean in December.
In the end, whether the Nittany Lions finish with a trophy or just the satisfaction of a season well-played, the Autumn will have been richer for having a team worth this much anticipation. And years from now, what you’ll remember won’t just be where they finished — it will be the moments you lived along the way.
The view from number two is a fine one. Just make sure you look around.
Chris Buchignani is cohost of The Obligatory PSU Podcast and The Obligatory PSU Pregame Show, entering its 10th season this Fall. He teaches a course on Penn State Football History for Penn State OLLI.
