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Clemson / Penn State

PennStateTurf2002

Well-Known Member
Aug 28, 2010
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Ok, hear me out, I don’t want to make any crazy analysis with stats, rankings, SOS,recruiting rankings but just a general observation about the trajectory of the Clemson program and why I think PSU is on a similar path.

Dabo took over as an interim head coach in 2008 and then full time in 2009. In his first 6 years he built the Clemson program up quickly to being a solid top 10/15 program. Really solid teams, great recruiting and really talented. Nothing earth shattering but really solid.

James Franklin you can make an argument was even better at Penn State his first 6 years. PSU knocking on that playoff door a couple times. Also really talented players, solid recruiting and exciting times. Either way in their first 6 years we are looking at really good football teams but definitely not national championship contenders.

2014 recruiting cycle ended that. The missing piece of the puzzle in top 50 National player and top rated dual threat QB heading to Clemson. Watson was a great player and 2014 was good, 2015 they went to the game in Dabo’s 8th year and in 2016 they won it in year 9. The star QB was the missing piece. They followed Watson up with Lawrence who was #1 across the board and they continued playing at that level. Fast forward to now and Watson and Lawrence are gone, Clemson with an Uber talented roster can’t score points and is struggling

2022 will be Franklin’s 9th season at PSU. I am not ready to throw the towel in quite yet on 2021 if Clifford can come back healthy but Drew Allar comes into State College in January 2022. A top 12 player in the nation, top rated pro style QB, and our own 5 star stud. He is bringing a lot of talent in with him, the 2022 class is ranked toward the top and a lot of these studs are rolling in early. It is too early to tell but PSU hasn’t recruited a QB like this in recent memory.

If Allar does turn out to be that guy and he and the team follow the trend 2022 will show huge promise and 2023 and 2024 could be really really fun times in happy valley. PSU has been really good the last 8 years with a little blip in a goofy 2020, maybe the QB like Allar is what we have been missing to carry is to the top, just like Clemson before Watson and Lawrence.
 
Ok, hear me out, I don’t want to make any crazy analysis with stats, rankings, SOS,recruiting rankings but just a general observation about the trajectory of the Clemson program and why I think PSU is on a similar path.

Dabo took over as an interim head coach in 2008 and then full time in 2009. In his first 6 years he built the Clemson program up quickly to being a solid top 10/15 program. Really solid teams, great recruiting and really talented. Nothing earth shattering but really solid.

James Franklin you can make an argument was even better at Penn State his first 6 years. PSU knocking on that playoff door a couple times. Also really talented players, solid recruiting and exciting times. Either way in their first 6 years we are looking at really good football teams but definitely not national championship contenders.

2014 recruiting cycle ended that. The missing piece of the puzzle in top 50 National player and top rated dual threat QB heading to Clemson. Watson was a great player and 2014 was good, 2015 they went to the game in Dabo’s 8th year and in 2016 they won it in year 9. The star QB was the missing piece. They followed Watson up with Lawrence who was #1 across the board and they continued playing at that level. Fast forward to now and Watson and Lawrence are gone, Clemson with an Uber talented roster can’t score points and is struggling

2022 will be Franklin’s 9th season at PSU. I am not ready to throw the towel in quite yet on 2021 if Clifford can come back healthy but Drew Allar comes into State College in January 2022. A top 12 player in the nation, top rated pro style QB, and our own 5 star stud. He is bringing a lot of talent in with him, the 2022 class is ranked toward the top and a lot of these studs are rolling in early. It is too early to tell but PSU hasn’t recruited a QB like this in recent memory.

If Allar does turn out to be that guy and he and the team follow the trend 2022 will show huge promise and 2023 and 2024 could be really really fun times in happy valley. PSU has been really good the last 8 years with a little blip in a goofy 2020, maybe the QB like Allar is what we have been missing to carry is to the top, just like Clemson before Watson and Lawrence.
From your mouth to god's ears.
 
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Ok, hear me out, I don’t want to make any crazy analysis with stats, rankings, SOS,recruiting rankings but just a general observation about the trajectory of the Clemson program and why I think PSU is on a similar path.

Dabo took over as an interim head coach in 2008 and then full time in 2009. In his first 6 years he built the Clemson program up quickly to being a solid top 10/15 program. Really solid teams, great recruiting and really talented. Nothing earth shattering but really solid.

James Franklin you can make an argument was even better at Penn State his first 6 years. PSU knocking on that playoff door a couple times. Also really talented players, solid recruiting and exciting times. Either way in their first 6 years we are looking at really good football teams but definitely not national championship contenders.

2014 recruiting cycle ended that. The missing piece of the puzzle in top 50 National player and top rated dual threat QB heading to Clemson. Watson was a great player and 2014 was good, 2015 they went to the game in Dabo’s 8th year and in 2016 they won it in year 9. The star QB was the missing piece. They followed Watson up with Lawrence who was #1 across the board and they continued playing at that level. Fast forward to now and Watson and Lawrence are gone, Clemson with an Uber talented roster can’t score points and is struggling

2022 will be Franklin’s 9th season at PSU. I am not ready to throw the towel in quite yet on 2021 if Clifford can come back healthy but Drew Allar comes into State College in January 2022. A top 12 player in the nation, top rated pro style QB, and our own 5 star stud. He is bringing a lot of talent in with him, the 2022 class is ranked toward the top and a lot of these studs are rolling in early. It is too early to tell but PSU hasn’t recruited a QB like this in recent memory.

If Allar does turn out to be that guy and he and the team follow the trend 2022 will show huge promise and 2023 and 2024 could be really really fun times in happy valley. PSU has been really good the last 8 years with a little blip in a goofy 2020, maybe the QB like Allar is what we have been missing to carry is to the top, just like Clemson before Watson and Lawrence.
Agree…just need some semblance of a running game to go along with Allar.
 
I’ll buy part of your argument. However Clemson being in a weak ACC almost guaranteed them smooth sailing into the playoffs. Get lucky or play really great for two games and you have a Natty. Climbing up and over OSU (which as far as I know hasn’t stopped recruiting great players), plus the rest of the BIG East is a tougher task.
 
They also recruited some real horses along the DL, we dont have that yet either. They had 3 1st round picks in 1 year from the DL, need more DDS type guys there
You are 100% right. I already was long winded enough haha. The 2 biggest game changers at college levels, QBs and defensive lineman. We have developed great defensive lineman but we haven’t had any major top 50 studs who can walk in and change the game right away like a Bosa, Chase Young, Wilkins, etc. Hopefully Sutton can do that for PSU in near future.
 
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Ok, hear me out, I don’t want to make any crazy analysis with stats, rankings, SOS,recruiting rankings but just a general observation about the trajectory of the Clemson program and why I think PSU is on a similar path.

Dabo took over as an interim head coach in 2008 and then full time in 2009. In his first 6 years he built the Clemson program up quickly to being a solid top 10/15 program. Really solid teams, great recruiting and really talented. Nothing earth shattering but really solid.

James Franklin you can make an argument was even better at Penn State his first 6 years. PSU knocking on that playoff door a couple times. Also really talented players, solid recruiting and exciting times. Either way in their first 6 years we are looking at really good football teams but definitely not national championship contenders.

2014 recruiting cycle ended that. The missing piece of the puzzle in top 50 National player and top rated dual threat QB heading to Clemson. Watson was a great player and 2014 was good, 2015 they went to the game in Dabo’s 8th year and in 2016 they won it in year 9. The star QB was the missing piece. They followed Watson up with Lawrence who was #1 across the board and they continued playing at that level. Fast forward to now and Watson and Lawrence are gone, Clemson with an Uber talented roster can’t score points and is struggling

2022 will be Franklin’s 9th season at PSU. I am not ready to throw the towel in quite yet on 2021 if Clifford can come back healthy but Drew Allar comes into State College in January 2022. A top 12 player in the nation, top rated pro style QB, and our own 5 star stud. He is bringing a lot of talent in with him, the 2022 class is ranked toward the top and a lot of these studs are rolling in early. It is too early to tell but PSU hasn’t recruited a QB like this in recent memory.

If Allar does turn out to be that guy and he and the team follow the trend 2022 will show huge promise and 2023 and 2024 could be really really fun times in happy valley. PSU has been really good the last 8 years with a little blip in a goofy 2020, maybe the QB like Allar is what we have been missing to carry is to the top, just like Clemson before Watson and Lawrence.
Freshmen QBs don’t win national titles by themselves.
 
If PSU was in that sh$tty football conference called ACC then we would have been in CFP probably 2-3 times already. Not sure we win any but probably like ND..we made it at least.

Credit Dabo for building a great program but also fortunate that the only schools with talent to complete had coaching turnover during their glory years, starting in 2015 with Al Golden debacle at U (became a coaching carousel), Beamer retires and regime change then Jimbo leaves FSU high and dry. No wonder 2017 to 2020 were great. How different for us if Urban left OSU abruptly back in 2017 and Hairball gets fired in 2018?
 
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Ok, hear me out, I don’t want to make any crazy analysis with stats, rankings, SOS,recruiting rankings but just a general observation about the trajectory of the Clemson program and why I think PSU is on a similar path.

Dabo took over as an interim head coach in 2008 and then full time in 2009. In his first 6 years he built the Clemson program up quickly to being a solid top 10/15 program. Really solid teams, great recruiting and really talented. Nothing earth shattering but really solid.

James Franklin you can make an argument was even better at Penn State his first 6 years. PSU knocking on that playoff door a couple times. Also really talented players, solid recruiting and exciting times. Either way in their first 6 years we are looking at really good football teams but definitely not national championship contenders.

2014 recruiting cycle ended that. The missing piece of the puzzle in top 50 National player and top rated dual threat QB heading to Clemson. Watson was a great player and 2014 was good, 2015 they went to the game in Dabo’s 8th year and in 2016 they won it in year 9. The star QB was the missing piece. They followed Watson up with Lawrence who was #1 across the board and they continued playing at that level. Fast forward to now and Watson and Lawrence are gone, Clemson with an Uber talented roster can’t score points and is struggling

2022 will be Franklin’s 9th season at PSU. I am not ready to throw the towel in quite yet on 2021 if Clifford can come back healthy but Drew Allar comes into State College in January 2022. A top 12 player in the nation, top rated pro style QB, and our own 5 star stud. He is bringing a lot of talent in with him, the 2022 class is ranked toward the top and a lot of these studs are rolling in early. It is too early to tell but PSU hasn’t recruited a QB like this in recent memory.

If Allar does turn out to be that guy and he and the team follow the trend 2022 will show huge promise and 2023 and 2024 could be really really fun times in happy valley. PSU has been really good the last 8 years with a little blip in a goofy 2020, maybe the QB like Allar is what we have been missing to carry is to the top, just like Clemson before Watson and Lawrence.
I've actually been thinking along these lines lately. There certainly are some parallels and I think Franklin and Dabo are similar in some ways. Good recruiters and program builders that know they need really good assistants.
 
Look I agree the ACC was weak but when Watson and Lawrence were there they didn’t just win the crappy ACC, they were able to win the playoff and head to head with Bama. They were a championship level team in any conference they would have played, easier in ACC of course but they still showed they weren’t a team just sneaking in from a bad conference or independence like ND, they also took care of business.
 
Ok, hear me out, I don’t want to make any crazy analysis with stats, rankings, SOS,recruiting rankings but just a general observation about the trajectory of the Clemson program and why I think PSU is on a similar path.

Dabo took over as an interim head coach in 2008 and then full time in 2009. In his first 6 years he built the Clemson program up quickly to being a solid top 10/15 program. Really solid teams, great recruiting and really talented. Nothing earth shattering but really solid.

James Franklin you can make an argument was even better at Penn State his first 6 years. PSU knocking on that playoff door a couple times. Also really talented players, solid recruiting and exciting times. Either way in their first 6 years we are looking at really good football teams but definitely not national championship contenders.

2014 recruiting cycle ended that. The missing piece of the puzzle in top 50 National player and top rated dual threat QB heading to Clemson. Watson was a great player and 2014 was good, 2015 they went to the game in Dabo’s 8th year and in 2016 they won it in year 9. The star QB was the missing piece. They followed Watson up with Lawrence who was #1 across the board and they continued playing at that level. Fast forward to now and Watson and Lawrence are gone, Clemson with an Uber talented roster can’t score points and is struggling

2022 will be Franklin’s 9th season at PSU. I am not ready to throw the towel in quite yet on 2021 if Clifford can come back healthy but Drew Allar comes into State College in January 2022. A top 12 player in the nation, top rated pro style QB, and our own 5 star stud. He is bringing a lot of talent in with him, the 2022 class is ranked toward the top and a lot of these studs are rolling in early. It is too early to tell but PSU hasn’t recruited a QB like this in recent memory.

If Allar does turn out to be that guy and he and the team follow the trend 2022 will show huge promise and 2023 and 2024 could be really really fun times in happy valley. PSU has been really good the last 8 years with a little blip in a goofy 2020, maybe the QB like Allar is what we have been missing to carry is to the top, just like Clemson before Watson and Lawrence.
Only problem is our schedule the next 3 years is brutal and Clemson had a cake walk. You have a good premise and let’s hope it comes true.
 
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Fall of traditional ACC powers created a vacuum; someone was bound to fill it. Enter Clemson.
It’s funny how that works. Look at WVU during the Rich Rod years. WVU fans are convinced it was Rich, but they forget he was a 7-5 coach until Miami, Va Tech and BC left the conference and suddenly WVU was a powerhouse, winning 11 games a year. I always said to my WVU friends what do you think would happen to PSU if Ohio State, Michigan, and Michigan State all left the Big 10? On the island of one armed men, the two armed man is king.
 
It’s funny how that works. Look at WVU during the Rich Rod years. WVU fans are convinced it was Rich, but they forget he was a 7-5 coach until Miami, Va Tech and BC left the conference and suddenly WVU was a powerhouse, winning 11 games a year. I always said to my WVU friends what do you think would happen to PSU if Ohio State, Michigan, and Michigan State all left the Big 10? On the island of one armed men, the two armed man is king.
This is all true, but kudos to Clemson (and WVU for that matter) for being ready to fill those voids once they opened. We’re not going to be so lucky, but I’d guess if we joined the ACC (not advocating, just saying), we’d have the resources available to catch/surpass Clemson pretty quickly.
 
This is all true, but kudos to Clemson (and WVU for that matter) for being ready to fill those voids once they opened. We’re not going to be so lucky, but I’d guess if we joined the ACC (not advocating, just saying), we’d have the resources available to catch/surpass Clemson pretty quickly.
Just curious why you would think that?
 
Just curious why you would think that?
Good question…and I don’t have a super solid response except that the ACC, as a whole, has never been a football conference. In the absence of any true blue bloods (yes, Clemson and FSU are traditionally good programs, but not like tosu or meatchicken), it just feels like an environment in which PSU could thrive. I’ve never been a huge B1G fan, but even I recognize that top-to-bottom, it’s a much better brand than the ACC. Considering the switch wouldn’t alter our recruiting footprint too much, I’m guessing we could continue getting top 5-10 classes and all that talent would thrive in a lesser conference the way Clemson’s talent has.
 
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Because outside of Clemson, what team in the ACC is as good as we are? If we ended up in the Coastal, we’d be like Georgia in the SEC East.
yea I wasn't questioning the pecking order more so this.."we’d have the resources available to catch/surpass Clemson pretty quickly."
 
I dont know about all that but even Sean Astin had woke up that morning in New Jersey and said can U hobbit hobble and get away with it like U had Referine or Larry Potter flu. It was the hardest hitting Leprechaun flu since Lou Holtz had hopped on the moon and they smacked the floor like Dukie Bois too.
 
The biggest difference here is the schedule. Clemson can go 11-1 in a terrible P5 conference and then win the conf championship against a bad team and get into the playoff every year. The ACC is always weak and is at its weakest this year. Look at Pitt’s schedule, 0 ranked teams! Psu has to run through a gauntlet of a conference schedule and then one good OOC opponent.
 
Ok, hear me out, I don’t want to make any crazy analysis with stats, rankings, SOS,recruiting rankings but just a general observation about the trajectory of the Clemson program and why I think PSU is on a similar path.

Dabo took over as an interim head coach in 2008 and then full time in 2009. In his first 6 years he built the Clemson program up quickly to being a solid top 10/15 program. Really solid teams, great recruiting and really talented. Nothing earth shattering but really solid.

James Franklin you can make an argument was even better at Penn State his first 6 years. PSU knocking on that playoff door a couple times. Also really talented players, solid recruiting and exciting times. Either way in their first 6 years we are looking at really good football teams but definitely not national championship contenders.

2014 recruiting cycle ended that. The missing piece of the puzzle in top 50 National player and top rated dual threat QB heading to Clemson. Watson was a great player and 2014 was good, 2015 they went to the game in Dabo’s 8th year and in 2016 they won it in year 9. The star QB was the missing piece. They followed Watson up with Lawrence who was #1 across the board and they continued playing at that level. Fast forward to now and Watson and Lawrence are gone, Clemson with an Uber talented roster can’t score points and is struggling

2022 will be Franklin’s 9th season at PSU. I am not ready to throw the towel in quite yet on 2021 if Clifford can come back healthy but Drew Allar comes into State College in January 2022. A top 12 player in the nation, top rated pro style QB, and our own 5 star stud. He is bringing a lot of talent in with him, the 2022 class is ranked toward the top and a lot of these studs are rolling in early. It is too early to tell but PSU hasn’t recruited a QB like this in recent memory.

If Allar does turn out to be that guy and he and the team follow the trend 2022 will show huge promise and 2023 and 2024 could be really really fun times in happy valley. PSU has been really good the last 8 years with a little blip in a goofy 2020, maybe the QB like Allar is what we have been missing to carry is to the top, just like Clemson before Watson and Lawrence.
Franklin and Penn State program don’t need to be on the same trajectory as Dani or anyone else. We are fine.
 
I dont know about all that but even Sean Astin had woke up that morning in New Jersey and said can U hobbit hobble and get away with it like U had Referine or Larry Potter flu. It was the hardest hitting Leprechaun flu since Lou Holtz had hopped on the moon and they smacked the floor like Dukie Bois too.
You took the words right out of my mouth.
 
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