Congrats on the win (the resident PSU fan ...)
I was there, Row 81 Section 8. Wish I had brought my gloves - it was chilly.
Anyway, U-M was clearly better Saturday. And U-M has a CFP-level type team in 2018. Good luck completing that journey: the game in Columbus will be a tough one but U-M is definitely capable of winning it.
November 4th, 2018 at 9:57 AM ^
Thanks, man. I appreciate having your level headed perspective on the board. I hope your visit to AA wasn’t a total bust.
November 4th, 2018 at 10:08 AM ^
You guys had that one coming, but you are always welcome here nittanyfan.. youre pretty much one of us anyway.
November 4th, 2018 at 10:18 AM ^
Thanks for being part if the community.
You represent your fan base well.
November 4th, 2018 at 10:24 AM ^
Thank you sir, good to have you your perspective here. It's been a while since we've won in Columbus, but I think we match up favorably minus Chase Young on OTs. But, PSU who is recruiting well will continue to have a strong team. Although losing McSorely will certainly hurt Sanders & Hamler are quite strong and your DEs will be very tough to deal with next year. Looking forward to heading to State College for next year's game.
November 4th, 2018 at 10:24 AM ^
Must have been tough. I almost felt bad for my father in law but I remembered how bad his busted me for last year. Penn st in reality has a really poor in game coach. You guys have talent but Franklin needs a lot of help there.
November 4th, 2018 at 10:24 AM ^
Had a chance to chat with a few PSU fans and they were great. My experience at home games and on the road is that I can have a decent conversation with most fan bases, all but two. The PSU fans that were sitting in front of me have no use for Franklin......especially after the out of bounds kick off call.
November 4th, 2018 at 10:40 AM ^
I actually prefer PSU road games and sitting amongst the opposition. It's more fun to me.
Anyway, Franklin had a lot of goodwill with the fanbase, but he's pissed much of it away in just 5 weeks. (the OSU game was only 36 days ago).
So many questionable decisions yesterday:
1. The out-of-bounds kick call. Take the penalty, move on.
2. 2 very questionable 1st half timeouts. One on the first possession, before the punt (who cares about 5 yards there). One on the last possession, a TO w/ 1:00 left and it being 4th down and Michigan out of timeouts.
3. The "QB Roulette" in the 2nd half. It went: McSorley, Stevens, McSorley (again), Stevens (again), McSorley (yet again!!!!!!!!!!!!!), back to Stevens (Jesus F Christ, what are they doing???). What the hell is that. Stevens threw a bad interception on his 1st pass, but that happens. Just stick w/ him the rest of the way. If I were either of those 2 QBs, I'd wonder if the coaches had any sort of bigger-picture plan.
November 4th, 2018 at 10:52 AM ^
Yeah, I don't know about Franklin. He's a good recruiter, but you guys can do better I think. My favorite "Franklin moment" personally was the Purdue game where he iced his own kicker with a timeout. Maybe he should delegate calling TO's to an assistant.
November 4th, 2018 at 10:53 AM ^
Taking the re-kick was Franklin admitting that his offense wasn’t going to do shit, and he needed to roll the dice on a return. I think that message was received by both teams.
November 4th, 2018 at 11:20 AM ^
Declining the illegal procedure on the kickoff was strange, but I understand he wanted KJ to provide a jolt. Not sure of the sequence, but I believe teams traded a couple of 3 and outs, which eventually lead to Michigan’s game sealing 90 yard drive.
What I didn’t understand was putting in the back up down 21?
November 4th, 2018 at 12:40 PM ^
You Penn St fans are seeing what James Franklin is. He is great at getting the team fired up and play with emotion. Beyond the emotion, you are seeing he is not ready for the P5 level yet. He lost his offensive coordinator, the man that made his team get the reputation it has/had.
November 4th, 2018 at 2:24 PM ^
PSU is a young team and I'd give Franklin some slack, notwithstanding your very valid points. The defense also did very well in keeping PSU in the game until they wore out. But if PSU loses to MSU/OSU/Michigan again next year then his seat will definitely be getting hot...
November 4th, 2018 at 10:24 AM ^
Appreciate your takes as always NF. We hope you’ll be rooting for the good guys when we play in Columbus
November 4th, 2018 at 10:34 AM ^
Glad to hear that our fans generally treated you well. I've generally had good conversations with Penn State fans over the years and I love visiting Pennsylvania. Have a safe trip home.
I've seen some Penn State fans online decrying our "antics." I am not a huge fan of the antics, but it is mostly kids having fun and you must admit you guys had some antics against us last year. Hope you win out.
November 4th, 2018 at 11:24 AM ^
Always good to hear your opinions, NittanyFan. Hope you had a great time in one of the best places on earth.
Good luck for the rest of the season!
November 4th, 2018 at 11:28 AM ^
You've always been a class act IMO and I've always enjoyed your insight.
Where is the PSU fan base with Franklin?
November 4th, 2018 at 12:42 PM ^
I don't know where they are, but I would expect them to be about where MSU fans should be (and are for the most part) with Dantonio: patient and appreciative but recognizing that he could probably use an OC upgrade.
Franklin just came off two great seasons. They lost a lot of key players and are having a bit of a rebuild year. In reality, his last three years are nearly identical to Harbaugh's 2015-2017. Two really good years, the first of which was a major pleasant surprise, and second of which was excellent even if a little disappointing given the talent. Then a down year that should have been expected and somewhat forgiven.
He's recruiting well. He's not the best game manager, but big picture, he's still been extremely good for PSU.
November 4th, 2018 at 11:38 AM ^
Thanks for the kind words, couldn't have been fun to have been in that game in that weather. Fandom endurance badge to you, sir and thanks for your contributions to the board.
November 4th, 2018 at 12:08 PM ^
It was a pretty clean game - no real chippiness. I thought it was a classy performance on both sides.
November 4th, 2018 at 12:36 PM ^
Michigan should win by 17 or more against Ohio St.
November 4th, 2018 at 2:10 PM ^
Penn State this year was all about Trace McSorley. They went as he went. Once he was injured and limited (and it was pretty clear he was), the writing was on the wall. This game was never going to end well.
I might have gone with Stevens earlier. He had the one stupid pick-6 play, but he also showed signs of being able to move the offense some.
Unlike most other people - including Penn State people - I thought the Franklin decision to make Michigan re-kick to Hamler was the only good decision he made all day.
The offense was struggling to move the ball and he needed to find another way to ignite a spark. Hamler could do that. If it worked and PSU got to within a TD, then we are in that "Penn State vs. Ohio State White Out Game" zone where anything weird can happen from there.
It did not work out, but it was actually smart to try it.
The rest of what Franklin was up to? . . . you're on your own to figure any of that out.
November 4th, 2018 at 2:14 PM ^
I wouldn't count out Franklin just yet as much as that pains me to say, I think he's a fucking douche, he's had a couple really good recruiting classes that will keep them competitive the next couple years. Negative recruiting is his go to move like dumbtonio