College GameDay’s Desmond Howard and Kirk Herbstreit as well as ESPN’s Pete Thamel talked about Penn State on Monday’s show. The Nittany Lions have a lot of hype heading in 2023.

Thamel was the first of the trio to talk about James Franklin’s program. He noted how Penn State has not won the B1G since 2016 and never reached the College Football Playoff. Thamel debated whether or not Penn State can change those perceptions with a Rose Bowl.

“It’s a really interesting moment for Penn State. They haven’t won the B1G since 2016 and they’ve never reached the College Football Playoff. Could today be the day that launches Penn State into those discussions for 2023?

“The optimism there starts with freshman QB Drew Allar… he was the No. 2 pocket-style QB in the 2022 recruiting class. He’s backed up Clifford this year, he’s projected to be the starter next year and his talent has this Penn State fanbase excited. Penn State hasn’t had a first-round pick at QB since Kerry Collins in 1995.”

Herbstreit loves the young core that Penn State has. Herbie thinks it’ll be hard to keep Penn State out of a 12-team Playoff scenario.

“This young group of players they have… it’s hard to imagine Penn State not being in (a 12-team Playoff)almost every single year because of the consistency they have in front of them,” said Herbstreit.

For Howard, what impresses him about Franklin’s team is how well the Nittany Lions are recruiting. Penn State came very close to upsetting Ohio State in Happy Valley.

“They’re doing a really good job recruiting, I think James Franklin’s doing a good job of developing the talent,” said Howard. I understand what happened in Ann Arbor against Michigan, but, in Happy Valley against Ohio State, if it wasn’t for JT Tuimoloau, they were going toe-to-toe in that game.”

Do you agree with what the crew had to say?