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Is Franklin elite yet????

Not much to take pride in these days.
Strongly disagree. This is a top 10 team (despite loss today) that has players that go to class, graduate and are productive members of the community. A LOT to be proud of.
 
If you are a PSU fan you have to hope we hold on to all our top recruits and turn this around. The alternative is uncertainty at best, and Barbour hiring a new coach at worst.
 
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This is interesting stat about Coach Yurcichs will makes you wonder even more is Franklin have his ways of how he wants a team to be and doesnt let his coaches bring in there own ideas. By the way we have only scored 40+ once this season and broke 30 in two games.

Since 2013, Yurcich’s offenses have scored 50 or more points 26 times and 40 or more points 51 times (50 percent of games coached), both of which are tops among FBS offensive coordinators since 2013. His teams average 61.5 touchdowns per year.
 
PSU is 5-2.

Do you know how many programs would KILL to be 5-2?

Assuming PSU finishes 3-2 (reasonable, I think), they will finish 8-4 in the toughest division on college football with two really tough cross over games.

Is it what we wanted out of this year? No, of course not. Is the sky falling? Nope.
 
We were an elite program for a few periods since 1990: '91-94, '97-'99, '16-'19.

The program has not been consistently elite since the 1970s.
But the truly elite programs are elite for long periods of time, not a couple years here and there. I came to the conclusion back in the late 90’s that PSU would not win another NC in my lifetime. It’s just something I’ve accepted. I don’t see the administration (or the fan base for that matter) doing what has to be done to be a NC level program. There’s a reason Bama is where they’re at right now and it’s not just Nick Saban. Same thing with OSU….they went all in as a university when they hired Urban and it wasn’t just Urban…which is why they’re still having success with Day. PSU could hire Day tomorrow and he wouldn’t have the success he’s having at OSU unless other changes came about.
 
Quick summary of Franklin.

Very good recruiter, perhaps a top 10 recruiting coach or better.

Modest game day coach/leader. It's very hard for an average leader to get high end people at the next level down. The casual observer can be fooled, but the best people one level down say, "Why should I work for this guy? He should work for me"
An actual, honest description of James Franklin. Would make a great used car salesman "obviously".
 
I don’t know. Cooper was mediocre at OSU and they stupidly ran off Fickell. Alabama had some losers before Saban, too
That’s what I’m saying, when Bama hired Saban and OSU hired Urban, they made the decision to do everything they could to make the program elite. It’s not enough to just hire a coach (see FSU, Miami, Nebraska, etc). My buddy is a huge Miami fan… he told me years ago Miami would not be a top level program again for years if ever because the university made the decision that they were tired of being looked at as a football factory and they wanted to get back to being a prestigious academic university. Guess what, a gazillion coaches later and my buddy was right. I truly think there are only a few universities that really want to be football powerhouses….the rest want to be known more for academics and that doesn’t lead to being elite.
 
Perhaps we do. I'd say NY6 bowls most years is elite. You?
It would be nice if he had a better than .500 record in bowls for us. No bowl last year, a losing season. Bowl losses to Georgia, Southern Cal and Kentucky. Wins over Washington and mighty Boston College and Memphis.
 
That’s what I’m saying, when Bama hired Saban and OSU hired Urban, they made the decision to do everything they could to make the program elite. It’s not enough to just hire a coach (see FSU, Miami, Nebraska, etc). My buddy is a huge Miami fan… he told me years ago Miami would not be a top level program again for years if ever because the university made the decision that they were tired of being looked at as a football factory and they wanted to get back to being a prestigious academic university. Guess what, a gazillion coaches later and my buddy was right. I truly think there are only a few universities that really want to be football powerhouses….the rest want to be known more for academics and that doesn’t lead to being elite.
Well, no one else thinks we're academically elite either.

So, we have that going for us.
 
Well, no one else thinks we're academically elite either.

So, we have that going for us.
I didn’t say we were, I said the administration either thinks that or they want us to be. I don’t think they really want us to be a football powerhouse.
 
Imagine that... universities want to be known for academics. Who knew?

Frankly I am not sure that I would want PSU to be like OSU or Alabama. It doesn't really feel like college football
I have mixed feelings on that…I don’t really want them to be, but man it would be nice to be at Bama’s level in football.
 
I see things a little different regarding this loss. BTW I expect Illinois to put up between 35-50 points on Rutgers next week. So much for Gary righting the Ship.

If you watch todays Penn State game closely you will see that the play calling was good, the O-Line played well and an injured Sean Clifford also had a decent game. The major issue for the Nittany lions is the defensive line. It cannot get any penetration on passing plays or stop the run without LB help. When a team has success in recruiting truly elite 0 & 1 tech DT’s they win National Championships. Don’t believe me, just look at the top 12 DT’s in the country and see where they end up year after year.
 
For a few Saturdays per year, yeah it would be entertaining. I don't know that it is worth the financial investment or anything else. If I am being completely honest, I would say that the sport is getting kind of dumb and a lot less interesting than it was 25 years ago.
And in the end, it really is just a game. And with the portal and NIL, it’s getting further and further away from college athletics and many schools will get farther away from even being good let alone elite.
 
If the play calling was good, the OL play was good, and the QB was decent, why are we going to OT with only 10 pts against a horrible defense?
The defense line is undersized, they cannot stop the run without loading the box. Whenever a RB gains 300+ yards is a Defensive line issue. Also, their defense was not horrible.
 
I may be in the minority, but I think the NIL will turn into a big nothing. Some players will pick up a few thousand dollars to have their face on ads for some local businesses. It will only prove that the NCAA was overregulating to prevent a problem that didn't even really exist.
The athletes that are making the big bucks aren’t even doing it with endorsements and things like that….it’s all social media. Hell, non athletes are taking in millions. But the Bama’s of the world will find a way to make NIL benefit them in terms of recruiting.
 
PSU was supposed to have the best group of running backs in the b1g. What happened?
There are more whiffs from the offensive line than Dave Kingmen on a Saturday double header. People think Caden Wallace is going pro after this year????? That is laughable at best.
 
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There are more whiffs from the offensive line than Dave Kingmen on a Saturday double header. People think Caden Wallace is going pro after this year????? That is laughable at best.
At least Kingman would connect with a couple during the double header. Lol
 
According to the stat shown on the broadcast, PSU is 20-10 (listed as 20-9 on stat so add today) as a top-10 team under Franklin. The stat said since 2014 but we weren't ranked in 14 or 15 so really, it's since 2016. Those 10 losses:

2017 Rose Bowl to USC -- an epic choke
2017 back to back to OSU & Sparty...both of those 4th quarter collapses
2018 OSU...a collapse with 8:00 left up 11 and home the next game AFTER A BYE WEEK to Sparty
2019 Minnesota where they came out flat and Ohio State which wasn't really close
2020 Indiana...overrated team and failed to grasp the situation
2021 Iowa & Illinois back to back

The common thread in all of these losses? The fact that the team and/or coaching staff was unprepared to play all 60 minutes. On one side, you can say, 'hey, great, they've been consistently in the top 10 in 4 of the last 5 years' but on the other, you can say 'they turtle up in the big games'. The fact that Franklin can count only TWO signature wins (both in 2016) says that he's had a very average tenure at a place that rightfully expects better than average (your definition of signature win may differ from mine and that's fine). I'm sure he'd like to take back that 'elite' comment because ever since he said it, they have failed to live up to even 70% of elite.


In case you were wondering, the 20 wins:
2021 -- Auburn, Nova, Indiana
2019 -- Iowa, Michigan, Sparty, Indiana
2018 -- Appy State, Kent State, Illinois
2017 -- Akron, Pitt, Georgia State, Iowa, Indiana, NW, Washington
2016 -- Rutgers, Sparty, Wisconsin
 
According to the stat shown on the broadcast, PSU is 20-10 (listed as 20-9 on stat so add today) as a top-10 team under Franklin. The stat said since 2014 but we weren't ranked in 14 or 15 so really, it's since 2016. Those 10 losses:

2017 Rose Bowl to USC -- an epic choke
2017 back to back to OSU & Sparty...both of those 4th quarter collapses
2018 OSU...a collapse with 8:00 left up 11 and home the next game AFTER A BYE WEEK to Sparty
2019 Minnesota where they came out flat and Ohio State which wasn't really close
2020 Indiana...overrated team and failed to grasp the situation
2021 Iowa & Illinois back to back

The common thread in all of these losses? The fact that the team and/or coaching staff was unprepared to play all 60 minutes. On one side, you can say, 'hey, great, they've been consistently in the top 10 in 4 of the last 5 years' but on the other, you can say 'they turtle up in the big games'. The fact that Franklin can count only TWO signature wins (both in 2016) says that he's had a very average tenure at a place that rightfully expects better than average (your definition of signature win may differ from mine and that's fine). I'm sure he'd like to take back that 'elite' comment because ever since he said it, they have failed to live up to even 70% of elite.
I’m positive he would like to take back the elite comment. I’m tired of hearing it for four years from the trolls on this board.
 
Sorry. I think many here confuse being a solid program with being elite.
Not sure it is confusion. I think it is a blatant attempt at changing the meaning of a known word to feel included.

In no way shape or form were the ‘97-‘99 seasons elite. They were hugely disappointing, arguably the most ever for PSU. In addition, PSU didn’t finish ranked top 10 in any of the seasons.

That doesn’t do anything to mitigate the feelings about todays game. Although, the likely outcomes of upcoming games may bring back memories of years like ‘92.
 
PSU is 5-2.

Do you know how many programs would KILL to be 5-2?

Assuming PSU finishes 3-2 (reasonable, I think), they will finish 8-4 in the toughest division on college football with two really tough cross over games.

Is it what we wanted out of this year? No, of course not. Is the sky falling? Nope.
Where do you see three wins?
 
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Elite = National Championships
nothing more, nothing less
That's unrealistic until the playoff goes to 12 and probably even then.

So if you were AD at Clemson you'd be firing Dabo tomorrow (disclaimer: I hate Dabo)?
 
Maryland, Rutgers and either MSU or UM (probably UM).
Maryland maybe, but Locksley has beat Franklin before, Schiano is going to out coach Franklin and beat him, PSU has no chance vs Michigan, and Franklin consistently chokes vs MSU.
 
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Maryland maybe, but Locksley has beat Franklin before, Schiano is going to out coach Franklin and beat him, PSU has no chance vs Michigan, and Franklin consistently chokes vs MSU.
Locksley beat Franklin once during covid. PSU will work UMD who got smoked by Minnesota today.

Schiano can't out coach a six pack holder.

They will beat Michigan at home (UM isn't that great) and lose to MSU on the road.
 
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Schiano is a good coach. Based on what we saw today I don't think we can defeat UM, MSU or Rutgers. And obviously not OSU. We can probably beat Maryland, they are horrible
I know I usually get killed for saying this but I never really liked Schiano. In order to keep anti-football members of the Board of Trustees at bay he kisses up way too much.

Kyle Flood was all about the x’s and O’s. Yes, he ran a little bit of a dirty program and brought in some borderline kids but Kyle Flood also went 8-5 in his first year in the B10 and beat some solid teams. Kyle Flood was a profoundly better game day coach than Schiano.
 
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