ColeIsCorky

July 1st, 2017 at 10:16 AM ^

I personally think our fanbase is in general a little overly pessimistic on James Franklin and Penn St. I'm not convinced Penn St. is becoming a power house yet, but the sanctions really did hurt their progress as a football program. I feel like we are starting to see some development going on there, but the jury is still out on them either way. This will be a very telling season as to which direction they are going. They are in much better position than we were under Brady Hoke after a few years, however. My guess is they will be competing for the East title from here on out. Going to be fun.

M-Dog

July 1st, 2017 at 10:49 AM ^

the sanctions really did hurt their progress as a football program.

And so did the last decade of the Paterno regime.  

The guy was an icon that they could not just get rid of, but he was absolutely mailing it in his last few years.  

He made no recruiting effort, he was just a wandering figurehead, and he did not contribute to game plans.  In the meantime, he still had to look in charge, so all those tasks were piece-meal ad-hoc picked up by various staff members of different levels of expertise.  It was never clear who was in charge.

It was chaos.

Penn State people all rallied around Paterno when he was under fire for Sandusky, irrationally so, but many of them wanted him gone well before that.

 

Mr. Yost

July 1st, 2017 at 4:01 PM ^

Why wouldn't they resign/extend him? ...look what he's done even under the cloud of Sandusky. I don't like the guy but it would be foolish to think anyone (they realistically could get) could've done any better in the same circumstances.

lhglrkwg

July 1st, 2017 at 10:34 AM ^

it's obvious that the PSU resurgence was led by him. James Franklin is still the guy who decided to kick a FG down 28-0 last year against us. As soon as Moorhead is picked up by someone as a HC after this year or the following, it'll be obvious who was the brains of the operation

M-Dog

July 1st, 2017 at 10:59 AM ^

Why would Penn State not be in the picture for the Big Ten East title every year?

They have an Ohio State-like recruiting advantage in a talent-rich area, they have a great home-field advantage, people are already starting to look past the Paterno/Sandusky scandal, and Franklin (and Moorhead) are at least good enough to capitalize on this.

They are not going to just go away no matter what happens, even if Moorhead leaves.

They have been dragged down for years by Paterno sleep-walking for his last decade (he would not even visit recruits) and the Sandusky scandal.  

But as all of that clears up and they are just a regular program, they have some tremendous inherent advantages that can and will put them back into top-level status.

We have not seen Penn State in full Penn State mode since the '90s so a lot of people on here have no history of ever having to worry about them.  Thre was no need.  Either they sucked, or we sucked, so it didn't matter.  There were very few times where we both met up as top 10 teams with the Big Ten on the line in the '00s.  

But they were the real deal when they were not under the Paterno sleep-walking / Sandusky scandal cloud.

 

 

M-Dog

July 1st, 2017 at 11:48 AM ^

He's not on a Meyer / Harbaugh level.  But he and his staff and his recruiting are good enough to be a factor on a regular basis.

He's not going to turn an Indiana into a contender.  But he can "game-manager" a Penn State into a contender.

 

NittanyFan

July 1st, 2017 at 12:59 PM ^

There were very few times where we both met up as top 10 teams with the Big Ten on the line in the '00s.  

There has only been one time in the 2000s where both teams were ranked (much less ranked in the Top 10).  That was in 2002.

Much different versus the 1993-1999 era.  Both teams were ranked in all 7 games - and ranked in the Top 20, outside of Michigan being #22 for the 1998 game.  The 1994 & 1997 games were both Top 5 match-ups.

You're right, many young U-M folk (college age and under) have not experienced a truly "big" U-M/PSU game, like they almost all were in the 1990s.  2017 should buck that trend.

PhillipFulmersPants

July 1st, 2017 at 11:27 AM ^

and barring no injury bug strikes them down, 9-3 looks like worst case scenario to me. Maybe a loss at Iowa, maybe at Northwestern, maybe Michigan at home. But I think they win 2 of those 3.  Ohio State on road looks like a probable loss. Feels like a 10-2 regular season to me.  A split with Michigan and Ohio State may get them back in B10 Championship game.  Hope you're right on abberation, but I still see New Year's  six kind of season as floor.  

bronxblue

July 1st, 2017 at 6:51 PM ^

A lot of talent comes back, but their defense struggled last year against the pass, they had issues consistently running the ball, and they do have some questions marks along the defensive line and on the offensive line. I think 10 wins is quite possible, but if you told me McSorley came back to earth a bit (he was still a 55% passer), their defense struggles a bit, and they lose a couple tossups, 9 wins with nothing inspiring in that lot wouldn't be a shock. He seems like a good recruiter and is liked by his players. But he's never shown me so innate ability to game plan for the opposition or adapt much to game situations, and once Moorhead is gone for an HC job we'll see if Franklin can actually coach as the offensive guru people claim he is.

mickblue

July 1st, 2017 at 12:45 PM ^

And he'll be fired and bought out before it ends.

Prediction 8-4 in 2017. 

I see losses vs. Michigan and @Ohio State.

And a split of 4 games vs.Pitt., @Iowa,@ NW, and vs. Nebraska.

@Maryland could also be problematic.

Ceiling of 9-3 and floor of 7-5 would be my guess.

fksljj

July 1st, 2017 at 2:09 PM ^

"ames Franklin is still the guy who decided to kick a FG down 28-0 last year against us."

 

How is that any different from Harbaugh kicking a field goal down 28-10 midway through the 4th quarter against o$u? I couldn't believe my eyes when he did that..

 

Anyways, good on Franklin. Not to take away from our blowout win against psu but keep in mind they were missing 2/3 of their linebacking corps during the Michigan game. He deserves it bringing Penn state back after the Sandusky debacle. He took a job very few people were willing to take and he ran with it.

BigBlue02

July 1st, 2017 at 6:19 PM ^

Your scenarios, which it doesn't look like you remember very well, are not anywhere close to similar. In the PSU game, it was 4th and 1 from the 1 yard line. In the UM-OSU game, it was 4th and 8 from the 9 yard line. Also, "not much time left" apparently means an entire quarter to you as we kicked that field goal 16 seconds into the 4th quarter. A two score game with the entire 4th quarter is nothing like the other example, in which PSU had like 20 yards of total offense the entire 1st half and that was the 1st drive they were anywhere near scoring points

fksljj

July 1st, 2017 at 10:58 PM ^

Apparently you don't remember how the game ended. Let me remind you. We lost. And it wasn't even close. You guys don't seem to understand how basic math works so let me spell it out for you. If one team is scoring touchdowns (7) and the other team is settling for field goals (3) take a guess which team is going to win. I get the feeling I'm going to have to spell that out for you as well. The team who is scoring the touchdown is going to win.

Mpfnfu Ford

July 2nd, 2017 at 4:26 AM ^

O'Brien took the job before the sanctions came down, and got to coach a Penn State team that still had talented upper classmen. Sanctions don't start really hurting until you're 2-3 years in and you have to plug holes without senior leadership with not enough scholarships to do it.

People would take that job NOW that sanctions are over, but that's also because of what Franklin just did last year when he proved you can compete and be in the running for a national title at Penn State, which is something nobody had done in over a decade there.

I don't know what Franklin has to do at this point. You'd think winning a Big Ten title and having multiple winning seasons at the most hopeless program in D1 FBS would be enough, but I guess not.

Bp6

July 1st, 2017 at 3:11 PM ^

Why wouldn't penn st give franklin a new deal? He won the big ten with an average team. He beat a highly ranked osu, which is something we haven't done in a long, long time.

Ty Butterfield

July 1st, 2017 at 5:15 PM ^

He has a win over Urban Meyer. Blame the refs all you want but Michigan had chances to put away OSU and instead found a way to lose.

war-dawg69

July 2nd, 2017 at 8:11 AM ^

He doesnt have a win over Harbaugh does he?. I could care less about how long Franklin coaches at psu. My problem will be resolved soon enough as this season plays out and we see how overrated psu really was. I will tip my hat to Franklin if he can stay within three to four touchdowns of osu this year. Reality is coming hard to psu.

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