Penn State football is favored by 23.5 points in its season opener against Marshall on September 5, per the DraftKings Sportsbook.

The Nittany Lions have not faced Marshall since 1930, when they won convincingly, 65-0. The relatively small line is likely due to the uncertainty of Penn State’s team under new head coach Matt Campbell. For comparison, Penn State opened as a 43.5-point favorite against Mountain West side Nevada last season.

Last season, the Thundering Herd were 5-7 and 3-5 in the Sun Belt Conference. It was a complete rebuild year for first-year head coach Tony Gibson after Charles Huff left for Southern Miss with 50 players. Huff is a former Penn State running back and special teams coach.

This year, though, Marshall will likely revert to the program it had for most of the decade. In three seasons in the Sunbelt prior to 2025, the Thundering Herd won 25 games. In fact, they have made 12 bowl games in 15 years and are among the winningest programs to never make the College Football Playoffs.