Look, nobody actually expected a Mountain West underdog to stroll into Happy Valley and walk away with a win against a top-three program. It just doesn't happen. When the Nevada Wolf Pack football vs Penn State Nittany Lions football matchup kicked off the 2025 season, the atmosphere was exactly what you’d imagine for a late August afternoon in Pennsylvania: humid, loud, and incredibly lopsided.
There’s something about Beaver Stadium that swallows teams whole. Over 106,000 people screaming in white shirts tends to do that. Nevada, under Jeff Choate in his second year, was trying to find an identity. Penn State, led by James Franklin at the time, was trying to prove they belonged in the national title conversation.
The final score was 46-11.
If you just look at the box score, it looks like a standard "buy-game" blowout. But if you actually watched the game or followed the ripple effects it had on both programs, there’s a lot more nuance to peel back. Honestly, it was a weird game.
The Stat Sheet That Lies (A Little)
Penn State basically moved the ball at will. They racked up 438 total yards compared to Nevada's 203. That’s a massive gap. Drew Allar was efficient, throwing for touchdowns and keeping the chains moving, while the Nittany Lions' "LawnBoyz" backfield of Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen combined for three scores on the ground.
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But Nevada didn't just roll over.
One of the weirdest parts of the game was the spread. Vegas had Penn State as a massive 42.5-point favorite. If you bet on the Wolf Pack to cover, you actually won money. That late touchdown by AJ Bianco to Marcus Bellon—with a successful two-point conversion to Jett Carpenter—was the ultimate "bad beat" for gamblers and a small moral victory for a Nevada team that refused to be shut out.
Breaking Down the Scoring
- Nicholas Singleton punched it in twice from the 1-yard line. Typical PSU power football.
- Kaytron Allen added a 12-yard scamper.
- AJ Bianco (Nevada QB) found Marcus Bellon for a 9-yard score in the waning seconds.
- Ryan Barker was busy, knocking through four field goals for the Nittany Lions.
Nevada's defense actually forced a couple of fumbles, which is sort of Choate's calling card. He wants his guys to be "hard-nosed" and aggressive. They were outmatched, sure, but they weren't soft. They held Penn State to 3-of-12 on third downs. That’s a stat that usually keeps you in a game, but when you’re giving up 6.17 yards per play, the third downs don't matter as much.
Why This Game Mattered More for Penn State
At the time, Penn State was ranked No. 2 in the country. This was supposed to be the "launchpad" game. However, looking back at the 2025 season, this game was the start of a very strange decline for James Franklin.
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You see, Franklin has always been criticized for his record against top-tier opponents, but he usually smokes the teams he’s supposed to beat. He did that here. But the cracks were there. The offense was a bit clunky in the red zone, settling for field goals four times.
Later that year, Franklin was actually fired after a string of losses to ranked teams and an embarrassing slip-up against unranked Big Ten opponents. It’s wild to think about now, but the man who won 104 games in Happy Valley—tying Rip Engle for second all-time—was gone by the end of the season. This Nevada game was one of his last wins at the helm.
The Wolf Pack’s Long Road Back
For Nevada, this game was a reality check. Jeff Choate’s first season in 2024 saw a huge win over Oregon State, but the 2025 campaign was a struggle. They finished 3-9.
The Nevada Wolf Pack football vs Penn State Nittany Lions football game showed exactly where the gap was. Nevada struggled to protect the quarterback and couldn't establish the run, which is supposed to be their bread and butter. They finished the game with only 78 net rushing yards.
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Key Players Who Showed Out
- Marcus Bellon (Nevada): He was clearly the best athlete on the field for the Pack. He caught the lone TD and was a reliable target all afternoon.
- Amare Campbell (Penn State): The linebacker was a human heat-seeking missile, leading the team with six tackles and stifling Nevada's middle-run game.
- Abdul Carter (Penn State): Even when he wasn't racking up stats, he was demanding double teams, which allowed the rest of the PSU front to live in Nevada's backfield.
Looking Forward: The 2026 Landscape
As we move into the 2026 season, both programs look completely different. Penn State is under new leadership (Matt Campbell took the reigns) and just signed a massive haul of 39 transfers, mostly from Power 4 schools. They are essentially rebuilding the roster from scratch using the portal.
Nevada is still trying to climb out of the basement of the Mountain West. The loss to Penn State in 2025 was a paycheck game that helped fund the athletic department, but it also exposed a lack of depth that Choate is still trying to fix with guys like Caleb Ramseur and Chubba Purdy.
Honestly, the biggest takeaway from the Nevada and Penn State history—which is brief, as 2025 was their first-ever meeting—is the disparity in resources. Penn State had 106,000 fans; Nevada's Mackay Stadium holds about 27,000.
Actionable Takeaways for Fans
- Watch the Portal: If you're a Penn State fan, keep an eye on those 39 newcomers. The 2026 roster is essentially "Iowa State East" given where Campbell came from.
- Respect the Cover: Never ignore a massive spread. Nevada proved that even in a blowout, a "meaningless" fourth-quarter drive can change everything for bettors.
- Evaluate the Trenches: Nevada’s failure to run for even 100 yards was the death knell. If they want to compete in the Mountain West, that 3.9 yards-per-play average has to get closer to 5.0.
The 46-11 result will stay in the history books as a dominant Penn State win, but for those who follow these programs closely, it was a harbinger of the massive coaching and roster shifts that defined the start of 2026.