Penn State (#18) hosts Marshall. The market has Penn State (#18) favored by 23.5.
What’s at stake
Penn State
- Penn State is ranked #18, right on the edge of the Top 25.
- Penn State hasn’t beaten a ranked opponent since 2024.
Marshall
- Marshall sits at 1% to make the CFP field — 2% with a win here, 1% with a loss.
- Marshall hasn’t beaten a ranked opponent since 2022.
The series
Penn State leads the series 2-0
2 meetings since 1929 · Penn State has won the last 2
- 1930Penn State 65–0
- 1929Penn State 26–7
Face-off
What each fanbase carries into this one.
Marshall
The chipMarshall doesn't need a national villain — the fanbase carries its own standard, set in 1970 and proven every time the program rebuilds from nothing and wins anyway.
Penn State
The chip · vs big brotherFans will point to the scoreboard: a decade of being the Big Ten's clear third program behind Ohio State and Michigan, the two rivals who kept finding a way in the fourth quarter when Penn State couldn't. The standard was never the problem — clearing the team one rung up always was.
What this game touches
The 2025 free-fall and the firing it forced. Penn State opened 2025 ranked No. 2 with title aspirations, started 3-0, then lost in overtime to Oregon at home and dropped stunners to UCLA and Northwestern — a 22-21 home loss to the Wildcats sending the program to 3-3 and ending James Franklin's 12-year, 104-win tenure in October, the abrupt close to a decade defined by getting close and not closer.
Best players
Penn State
- Dominic DeLuca (LB) · 2025: 66 tackles
- Audavion Collins (CB) · 2025: 47 tackles
- Trebor Pena (WR) · 2025: 552 receiving yards
Marshall
- Jaydyn Johnson (LB) · 7 tackles
- Boogie Trotter (DB) · 2025: 73 tackles
- Kerion Martin (LB) · 2025: 67 tackles
The line, and the room
Marshall fans are feeling it more than most fanbases this week (80th percentile) — the mood matches the numbers.
- Model · 45%
- Market · 97%
- Penn State fans · 14th
- Marshall fans · 80th
Home −23.5 · O/U 52.5
Conditions
78°F · 8 mph wind · Fair
Penn State is 76% at home, 66% on the road since 2018 (42-13 home, 25-13 away).