WE ARE...8-2.

[Nitt1300]

I've been a fan since the late 1960s and I too care about top ten finishes. In fact a top ten finish is the very definition of success, as nobody wins it all every year, not even Bama.

 

[AWS1022]

Oh sorry. Yeah that may be true. There are many reasons for it. A lot of people are absolutely sick to their stomachs that he brought PSU back to national prominence so quickly. Some out of jealousy, some out of faux outrage over JS, some because CJF is a big, somewhat brash personality and they don’t like him, etc.

Look I absolutely love the guy and would not trade him for any other coach in America right now. Having said that, he does feed the beast with some of his decisions and statements. So there is going to be a response. I actually think he likes and wants that.

Examples....Of course he got under the ASWPs skin with the Akron comment. Again, I think that was intentional to some if not a large degree. Most coaches don’t do that, but I wouldn’t have done it but didn’t have a big problem with it. I personally wasn’t a fan of the icing the Ga State kicker. His explanation made me feel better, but you can watch many hundreds of college football games and not see that happen in that situation so of course it got attention. I loved how he handled the Koa situation and do not believe he was grandstanding. Those who already dislike him see it differently. F them. Who cares.

I don't care if people like him or not, I just don't think he gets the credit he deserves. Last year he didn't even win the Big 10 coach of the year in one of the awards (I think it was the one selected by the conference). That shouldn't have even been close. If Meyer or Harbaugh had taken the job and got PSU where they are right now, they would be polishing a plaque for the college football hall of fame.

 

[78SweetRevenge]

Regardless of spin, 8-2 and already being eliminated for conference title hopes is disappointing. I don't think Franklin should be fired or anything along those lines but we can't pretend we're happy with 8-2. That was not the goal. And no one can be happy with the run game right now. There's problems like every team has and we should be able and willing to discuss those instead of cheerleading. Anything short of a title = disappointing in Saquon's final season. That's reality.

 

[Mixolydian]

I don't care if people like him or not, I just don't think he gets the credit he deserves. Last year he didn't even win the Big 10 coach of the year in one of the awards (I think it was the one selected by the conference). That shouldn't have even been close. If Meyer or Harbaugh had taken the job and got PSU where they are right now, they would be polishing a plaque for the college football hall of fame.

Agree, B1G coach of the year last year should have been the easiest call of all time. If he keeps doing what he’s doing, his plaque will get polished.

 

[PSU-Knocker]

There were a whole bunch of posters on here who went on and on about how much better and more talented OSU was after we lost. OSU then, of course, went out and lost by 30 to iowa the next week. Just think the "coaches can do no wrong" crowd is getting as tiresome as the "fire all the coaches" crowd. Didn't mean it as an attack on you.

Absolutely all coaches can do wrong. They are human. If I hadn't watched OSU push us all over the field and it get worse as the game went on, I wouldn't be so confident in my position. If talent were equal, we would have beaten OSU. They made so many errors in that game. It is obvious to me that we are not as talented as OSU in our linemen and we are not as talented as Alabama, Clemson and many other teams who haven't been severely hurt by sanctions. The elite in college teams today have an advantage over us right now. You have to look at recruiting rankings over the last five years and you can see the advantage. Remember "It's the jimmeys and the joes, not the x's and the o's.'
I ran into an exuberant PSU fan late last year who was all confident that we would go all the way this year. I told him we were a year or two away. It was obvious, to me, that our jimmeys and joes didn't quite match up with the elite.
When you're losing games in the last few minutes of the the contests, that's fatigue and a sign of inferior depth (USC last year, OSU, and MS this year).
I do believe that Michigan State is not better than us.