Penn State has the sixth-highest odds to win the 2023 national title, according to BetOnline.
At 18/1, Penn State is behind only two-time defending champion Georgia (3/1), Alabama (15/4), fellow Big Ten schools Ohio State and Michigan (6/1, 12/1) and Notre Dame (14/1).
Penn State finished the 2022 season 11-2. It capped off the year with a Rose Bowl win over Utah last week.
Coach James Franklin’s team finished No. 7 in the AP Poll. It’s the fourth time it’s ended in the top 10 in the past seven seasons and the first since 2019.
Penn State had a fantastic bounce-back year in 2022. The program went 11-11 combined over the 2020 and ‘21 seasons. With many key contributors coming back, expectations are high going into 2023. 247Sports has Penn State ranked No. 5 in its ‘way-too-early’ top 25. The people who put the poll together for 247 were national analysts Brad Crawford, Bud Elliot, Chris Hummer and Brandon Marcello.
“Two of our voters were close to putting Penn State in the top four to open next season,” Crawford wrote in the article, “given what the Nittany Lions have coming back with two rising sophomore sensation running backs (Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen) and former five-star signee Drew Allar taking the reins under center following the departure of multi-year starter Sean Clifford.”
College Football Insider Brett McMurphy of the Action Network also has Penn State ranked highly in his ‘ridiculously-way-too-early’ top 25. McMurphy has Penn State ranked No. 7.
We’ll have to wait awhile to find out how good 2023’s PSU team will be and if its national title odds will prove to be accurate or close to it. Penn State opens the regular season against West Virginia Sept. 2 at Beaver Stadium.
Penn State hasn’t won a national championship since 1986, the second of two national titles for former head coach Joe Paterno.
In January 2021, Penn State had 66/1 odds of winning the 2022 title.
