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Revealing what is different about Oregon game for Penn State in 2025

Untitled design (2)by: Sam Gillenwater18 hours agosamdg_33

Nine and a half months ago, Oregon beat Penn State in a competitive, one-score game in the Big Ten Championship. Now, as the Ducks come cross-country for The White Out in Happy Valley, Josh Pate sees several aspects of this game that could make it a Nittany Lion win this time around.

Pate gave his take on this top six matchup at Beaver Stadium while on ‘Get Up’ on Thursday. While answering why this was the highly-ranked game that James Franklin would win, Pate said simply because Penn State has to get this one on Saturday

“I think it’s different because they have to have it, which is not an Xs and Os type of analytic breakdown,” Pate said. “I do think they had to get inches better. They needed to course-correct by a few degrees,” said Pate. “I believe the early-season offensive inefficiency is somewhat a product of them knowing we’re playing high school teams. We don’t have to show anything.”

Then, defensively, Penn State is now the school with Jim Knowles as its defensive coordinator. That’s of note to Pate. While the Nittany Lions allowed 45 points and 469 yards of offense to the Ducks last postseason in Indy, Ohio State — Knowles’ previous stop — held Oregon to 26 points and 386 yards per outing in two matchups combined against them last season.

“They hired Jim Knowles. Jim Knowles, defensive coordinator, faced Oregon twice last year. Remember how the latter of those two matchups went,” Pate added.

Oregon could very well be the next team in a ranked clash to beat Penn State. It would drop Franklin to 16-29 (.356) against ranked teams and 4-21 (.191) versus those in the Top 10 since 2014. Still, somehow or some way, Pate just thinks the Nittany Lions find a win in University Park on Saturday night.

“I am not sitting here and telling you definitive either way. I just think, in the end, the dust settles? It’s kind of like Oregon posting Ohio State last year. They had just enough at home,” Pate said. “I think Penn State finds a way, bottles up enough to have just enough.”