Penn State vs. FIU: Final thoughts and analysis of the Nittany Lions’ matchup
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Penn State expects dominant performance vs. FIU after strong passing showing.
- Young defenders like Coleman and Dixson aim to earn key rotation roles early.
- Backup QB Grunkemeyer strengthens his hold on the job with calm, efficient play.
Penn State plays its second game of the 2025 season in a non-conference matchup Saturday afternoon in Beaver Stadium against FIU. The Nittany Lions will play the Panthers in Week 2 of the college football season. Here are some final thoughts and predictions ahead of the matchup.
Will the running game bounce back?
I wasn’t concerned with the Penn State rushing attack after re-watching the game, but it will be worth monitoring how well the offense does in that regard this week. There were a few opportunities last week that went by the wayside — like one run where running back Nick Singleton cut a run inside and only made a marginal gain instead of taking on a Nevada cornerback — that shouldn’t happen moving forward. That being said, struggling against Nevada and FIU would be a bad sign. Yes, the Wolf Pack were showing the Nittany Lions more five down looks, selling out to stop the running game, but that should be good teach tape for Penn State.
It should help, too, that the passing game was very good against Nevada and FIU shouldn’t be leaning into stopping the run quite as aggressively if it knows quarterback Drew Allar can make the defense pay with his arm. If the offense doesn’t take some lessons from the Nevada game, and Singleton and Allen are still unable to produce this, then there will be a much larger conversation to be had about what this offense has to look like in order for Penn State to win a national title.
Which defenders step up?
The rest of the game — assuming the running game plays as well as I anticipate — will be about the young players who prove they’re ready to have larger roles. That’s especially true on defense, where I see plenty of talent that can have an impact later this season in some of Penn State’s most crucial games.
Let’s start on the defensive line, where Yvan Kemajou and Chaz Coleman can both rotate in at defensive end. Coleman flashed last week, and looks the part of a player who can be an elite pass rusher. While he’s already expected to burn his redshirt, Kemajou isn’t right now. He’s more of a power pass rusher than Coleman, and could find his own way onto the field if he plays well through the team’s first three games.
That’s true at cornerback, too, where Daryus Dixson is green-lighted to play as a true freshman, while Jahmir Joseph is not. Dixson impressed on special teams and could grow into a rotation player at corner this year — arguably the deepest position on the team. Joseph has a chance to be on the same trajectory — if he plays well against FIU and Villanova — as a core special teams player who can get valuable reps on defense this season.
Grunkemeyer’s growth worth monitoring
By the end of fall camp it seemed clear that Ethan Grunkemeyer would be Allar’s backup at quarterback, and in Week 1 he did everything in his power to hold on to the job. Grunkemeyer was efficient and decisive as a passer, not hanging on to the ball too long and instead confidently letting it rip and getting the ball to his weapons. And that is not what I saw last year when he played. Back then, he looked like you’d expect a true freshman to look — nervous and concerned about making mistakes. That iteration of Grunkemeyer seems to be gone.
It helps that he got his first career rushing touchdown in Beaver Stadium out of the way against Nevada, and that he led a long scoring drive when the team was backed up inside the five-yard line. Now he can go out and play with confidence and poise, knowing he’s capable of being productive. It’s just a matter of how much he takes the job and runs with it the rest of the non-conference schedule. I’d anticipate another good game on Saturday potentially closing the door on the backup quarterback competition.
Final predictions
Penn State 49, FIU 3: The Nittany Lions are going to steamroll the Panthers on Saturday. They’re significantly better at every single position and are in position to take care of business like they did against Nevada. I’d be surprised if any of the starters are in for Penn State in the fourth quarter of this game.
MVP: Chaz Coleman. Some may have expected more production from Coleman last week, and I think he gets home this time around. He’s an athletic freak who should dominate against FIU’s offensive tackles. I’ll say he gets his first career sack in the game and it comes with a forced fumble that he recovers.
The last word
Penn State head coach James Franklin on how he watches other college football games:
“I sit sometimes in my boxers and T-shirt and watch games and try to relax and enjoy it. To your point, we don’t watch game like normal people. Like the players are sending me, hey, coach, did you see that situation? So two minute situations at the end of the game and they didn’t use their timeouts effectively or four minutes and the runner ran out of bounds or whatever it is. So constantly shooting those things to me and the staff is doing the same thing so we can watch those things on Sunday after we get through our film. Just constantly using examples like that to teach situational football and awareness. Obviously sometimes there are people that will on our schedule, and depending on who they’re playing, those games can be attractive to watch as well.
Yeah, that’s kind of usually the process. Usually I try to get to bed at a fairly reasonable hour because I’m not a night guy anyway. I’m a morning guy and usually come in the office pretty early on Sunday to get started on grading the last film before I watch it with both offense, defense, and special teams and separate units and on to the next opponent. So I don’t know if that’s the answer you’re looking for. It was a long one. I apologize for the visual of me sitting in my boxers in my basement. That’s usually what it looks like.”
