Althons predicts Duke Mayo Bowl
- Thread starter bdgan
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I think you are underselling this team a bit. 9 and 3 is a realistic best case while 5 and 7 is a realistic worst case. Pretty much same as last year. Will likely be the same next year.
I think the reality of where the program is and what the program has been has missed a few members.
Penn State is a wonderful academic institution that at times can make some noise on a national football stage.
As much as it hurts, they aren't OSU, Bama, or Georgia. They are one of those teams that are 2nd tier that can bump up to the 1st tier when things go their way.
Now, they had a chance to be a more permanent member of the Tier 1 group, but lost to Ohio State two years in a row when they had them dead to rights.
Penn State is a wonderful academic institution that at times can make some noise on a national football stage.
As much as it hurts, they aren't OSU, Bama, or Georgia. They are one of those teams that are 2nd tier that can bump up to the 1st tier when things go their way.
Now, they had a chance to be a more permanent member of the Tier 1 group, but lost to Ohio State two years in a row when they had them dead to rights.
And that is the point - it wasn’t that long ago - 25 or so years, where we WERE equal to O$U and considered 1st tier. What happened, and why did PSU let it happen? Now we are 2nd tier, as you say. And that should be unacceptable - but it clearly isn’t to the University and much of the fan base. And that is why I have a problem with PSU football. As an alum, and avid fan, I do not believe there is, or has been, a commitment to be/remain 1st tier. Why?
25 years ago we were exactly where we are today. Have some good seasons, lose some games that we shouldn't lose, and play in some Florida Bowl Games with an occasional run at it all. The problem here is what is called "things always used to be better" syndrome. In reality they were no better, they were what they were.
1997: 9-3
1998: 9-3
1999: 10-3
2000: 5-7
2001: 5-6
2002: 9-4
2003: 3-9
2004: 4-7
2005: 11-1
2006:9-4
2007:9-4
2008: 11-2
2009: 11-2
2010: 7-6
2011: 9-4
2012: 8-4
2013: 7-5
That doesn't say Tier 1 to me. That says Tier 2 with an occasional run.
PSU has become the new Minnesota - had some glory years back in a different era but descending into a mediocre program. Although Minny had more success in their glory years.
As to why this happened, you answered your own question - it is totally acceptable by the University and much of the fan base.
No one that I know of thinks Franklin is "without fault". On the other hand, there are posters who blame him for everything except maybe global warming (and that's probably next). At the end of last year, I posted that Franklin deserved blame for not having the team ready to play against Illinois. I also asked his many critics on here to cite one strategical mistake he made that caused the losses to Michigan and MSU. I never received any responses. The length to which some people will go to blame Franklin for everything was epitomized by the moronic "sportswriter" who claimed that Franklin "blew" the MSU game because he chose to punt on 4th and short on PSU's first possession on his side of mid-field in snowy conditions since that "led" to MSU then marching 99 yards to make the score 14-0.
This board seems to be like our society and politics...things can never be in the middle, gotta be far right or far left, no in between.
People need to realize that it is possible for the team and Franklin to both take some blame when things don't go right.
Then you must not read some of the posts that you "like" because there are plenty of them here that you appear to agree with. They appear without fail anytime something the least bit negative is said about CJF.
I think that much of it is due coach worship. They got in that mode early with Paterno and they accept it as normal.
Well said.
Of course it reflects our society because it is a microscopic subset of that group.
When did we use to be top 5 in the country? I’ve been following them for 50 years and other than a handful of years throughout that time, they were never consistently a top 5 team. Selective memory strikes again.
There come those darn facts again.....stop that, you will confuse the crowd that thinks Penn State is top 5 every year.
No program has ever been top five every year. Penn State, under Paterno, was consistently rated higher than almost every other program during during his tenure with more title runs than every other team. We are fourth best in the Big Ten East under Franklin.
Sorry Wallace but ur an idiot and must go on ignore. Have a good one brother.
How many times did a Penn State team under Joe compete for a title? 68, 69, 71, 72, 73, 77, 78, 82, 85, 86, 94, 05, 08. No program competed for a title more often than Penn State during the Paterno era. Hell, schools like Florida haven't been in title contention as many times as Joe over their entire history.
Pretty broad interpretation of “compete for a title”. And if those numbers were for Franklin, all we’d read on this board is that he can’t win the big game, only 2 titles out of 13 years in contention he’s a failure, Franklin isn’t as good as _______(whoever won it that particular year), he’s a poor clock manager, poor game day coach as evidenced by all these losses when it counted, and on and on and on.
Congratulations. You finally posted something that supported your opinion. I've NEVER heard anyone mention '71 and '72 as years we were worthy of title talk, but hey, that's 10 years before I was born.
AWS is right though. Nobody mentions '16, '17, or '19 similarly.
Alabama certainly did. Even better, they actually WON 6 of them in the 60s and 70s.
We didn't wrap up the regular season in any of those years in the discussion for the national championship. We did in every year I listed.
Except for the undeniable fact that I ALWAYS back up what I say. You just don't pay attention.
Joe in his hey day of the late 60's, 70's and 80's outclassed the field no doubt. His last run was of course '94 then came the decline.
You cannot say Paterno was better than Franklin post '94. Argument does not hold water. We were never contenders in '05 or '08. If you say we were then you need to give credit to Franklin in '16 and '19. You also are forgetting Paterno benefited from no Urban Meyer at O$U. Despite that, he still struggled mightily against them post '94 (4-12) and those '05 and '08 teams just squeaked out wins vs O$U. And the miserable 9 game losing streak vs scUM during that time. Not defending Franklin like a blind fanboy but you need to look at things objectively.
Yes I can say that Paterno was better post 94. He had three teams (05, 08 and 09) that were hands down better than any team Franklin has had. I am 100% objective. I wasn't happy with the later Paterno years. Most of our faults were coaching which is where we are with Franklin, yet we still were in the discussion. Franklin hasn't been in the discussion for a championship much less competed for one.
You RARELY back up what you say. Just because you say it, doesn't make it so. I probably pay too much attention to you, but alas a guy's gotta have his vices.
Define wrap up the regular season. Does '71 count with the blowout loss to the only ranked team we played prior to the bowl? It was the last game of the year. That doesn't sound like wrapping up the regular season to me.
'72 we open the season with another loss to the same team who beat us in '71 regular season finale, win out again (closed this regular season) to get shut out by #2 OU in the bowl.
'16 team closed out the regular season and finished 5th prior to the playoff. There was plenty of discussion about the merits of getting into the playoff over OSU (h2h win) and Washington (weak schedule), but 2 losses sank us.
Going back to those 3 70s teams in question, we were never ranked higher than 4th in a time you had to be top 2 to have a genuine shot to win the vote. We were basically Boise State/UCF/Cincy as far as respect went.
Yes. I'm not sure I'd bet on it due to inexperience and possible injuries, but I'd bet on 7.
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Nailed it. The 72 year old circus clown leads the way...and the rest fall in line. All coaches are infallible...
7 ain't good enough. 7 means this coach goes 18-17 in the last 3 seasons and that gets you fired at any program that considers itself a top tier program.
Why are we still talking about the 60s and 70s. Or even the 80s. In the last 30 years, we've been relevant 3 times (though 05 & 08 are reaches) and haven't come close since. This isn't a top-tier program right now though it has potential to be
The only one whining and bitching is you and the laughter you hear is from everyone laughing at your CJF fanboy ways😊…
Equal to o$U? They were a notch below us before we joined the Big10…the conference has screwed us royally
