Paul Finebaum mocks Penn State after 2-0 start: 'How do you get away with playing a schedule like that?'

Although Penn State opened the season as the No. 2 ranked team in the country, it has not yet made an impression on the college football landscape.

This isn’t due to any poor performances by the Nittany Lions, but boils down to just how easy their schedule has been. James Franklin‘s Penn State team opened the season with a 46-11 win over Nevada and turned that momentum into a 34-0 shutout of FIU.

It will host (FCS) Villanova this Saturday in its final non-conference warmup game before opening Big Ten play at home against No. 4 Oregon on Sept. 27. Prior to that monstrous top-five clash with the Ducks, Penn State will have faced two GO5 teams and one FCS team while Oregon would have already faced two power-four teams (Oklahoma State and Northwestern) and rival Oregon State.

ESPN‘s Paul Finebaum took to Wednesday’s edition of ‘The Rich Eisen Show‘, where he trolled Penn State over their cupcake heavy schedule. He compared playing Nevada, FIU and Villanova to playing teams from the ‘Catholic youth organization’, and joked that Penn State will be playing Villanova in The Palestra (also known as The Cathedral of College Basketball).

Finebaum jokes that Penn State will play Villanova in The Palestra

“You’ll have to help me on Penn State because when you beat up on the top three teams in the Catholic youth organization,” Finebaum joked. “How do you get away with playing a schedule like that? It’s downright embarrassing while Michigan is out there playing Texas last year and at Oklahoma and Ohio State‘s playing Texas this year. LSU‘s also gone to Clemson, and you’re playing Villanova. You’re playing Nevada and Florida International. Saturday’s game is at The Palestra.”

Against inferior competition, Penn State has cruised through the first two weeks of the season. Quarterback Drew Allar however hasn’t quite looked like the top-tier quarterback he was tagged to be this season, as he’s passed for just 417 yards and three touchdowns. He’s also been sacked three times and is averaging just 7.1 yards per throw.

While the offense hasn’t produced maybe like it was expected to against those two teams, the defense certainly hasn’t disappointed. They are allowing just 5.5 PPG (8th best in NCAA) and have recorded six sacks and two interceptions. Gearing up for a matchup against Oregon in two weeks, it will have to continue to polish both sides of the ball if it seriously wants to contend for the Big Ten (like it was expected to) this season.

ESPN’s Paul Finebaum went after Penn State’s weak schedule to open the 2025 college football season.