PSU News and commentary
Now that the Penn State Football season is over and some time has passed, it's a good time to consider where the program is and where the program is going. A Pin Stripe Bowl win last year helped to make everyone feel better about Penn State football getting back on track after brutal (and undeserved) sanctions. However a TaxSlayer Bowl loss this year, raises many questions about whether the program is improving or just treading water. First of all there is no way not to be disappointed with the 2015 season. There was no improvement in regular season wins and losses over 2104. Most concerning, after a crushing defeat to a much improved Temple, the Nittany Lions only won the games they should have won. No only did they not win against any ranked teams, they struggled early in several games against non conference opponents that should have been easy wins. While no one expected Penn State to upset a powerhouse like Ohio State, they managed to lose a very winnable game against Big Ten opponent Northwestern. There is some good news. James Franklin has turned out to be as good or better at recruiting than most people expected. In this regard he is exactly what Penn State needed. He is proactive, high energy, enthusiastic and leaves no doubt with recruits that Penn State wants them as much or more than any other program in the country. Admittedly this is a tough sales assignment. Penn State has not had a premier football program in many years and while many PSU faithful don't want to hear it, Joe Paterno was responsible for many years of decline. JoePa stopped making recruiting visits and that is simply not acceptable if you are trying to land blue chip recruits. Making matters worse, the loss of scholarships the last few years made it impossible to even be competitive in recruiting top prospects. Not only does Franklin need to sell a Penn State program that has been down for a many years but he needs to recruit directly against Big Ten programs that already where Penn State wants to be. These challenges aside, recruiting is a big part of Franklin's responsibility and so far he gets an A+. James Franklin's other responsibility, namely coaching, is a much bigger concern. There are real questions as to whether he has what it takes on game day. Managing the clock is crucial and too many times this year, Penn State has ended close games with no time outs and an ineffective 2 minute drill. It is hard to discern how much of this is a result of the lack of talent needed to make big plays. But ultimately the coach needs to make sure the team regardless of talent knows what needs to be done in tight end of game situations. Too often this season the players and coaching staff seemed to lack a plan. On a positive note and there have been a few, James Franklin took decisive action in replacing his offensive coordinator. This was not an easy change and he stepped up and did what needed to be done. He should get more credit than he has for this gutsy call at the end of the season. He also made a great decision in going with freshman Saquan Barkley as starting running back. While it was easy to see that Barkely was the best running back on the team, starting a freshman goes against a long (and in my opinion misguided) tradition of Penn State not giving freshman a big role. Franklin knows the program needs to change in order to be competitive with the top programs in the Big Ten and he seems more than willing to do what it takes. So with the positives and negatives taken into account where does Penn State football stand heading into 2016. In my opinion it is treading water. I think Franklin knows what it takes to get the program back to the top and I am impressed that he has the energy required to do it. My concern quite honestly is that Penn State's gains by definition need to come at the expense of other top tier programs. The way to win is talent. I don't want to minimize coaching but you can't coach speed or size and that's what separates great teams from good teams in football. It always has and it always will. Unfortunately, Urban Meyer, Mark Dantonio, and Jim Harbaugh to name a few are under every bit as much pressure to win as James Franklin. If you are a blue chip recruit, these guys go after you just as hard as James Franklin but have top 10 and top 20 programs to sell. Franklin on the other hand needs to sell the promise of a better things to come and that's a tough job. Bottom Line, Penn State will continue to improve. Just don't expect any huge improvements in 2016. The clearest sign of improvement won't be the regular season record. I expect to remain at 7 wins in 2016. The big difference will be the quality of the wins and losses. Look for bigger margins of victory and smaller margins of defeat. The real turn around year should be 2017 when the Nittany Lions will finally see the impact of the return to 85 scholarships.
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January 2018
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