Basic tackling fundamentals is as bas I have ever seen. The staff doesn't coach up fundamental football, and it shows. O line is horrible too.
Official PSU - Iowa '25 game thread
- Thread starter Tom McAndrew
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And how are those things any different? We’ve had horrible play calling all year and Dom’s been playing forever. This is not new stuff…kind of shows you Allar was better than many gave him credit for.
Firing Franklin may have made the long term damage even longer. We’ll have to wait and find out. And I think we would have had a better chance of winning yesterday with Franklin than a guy who’s never coached before. And I think there are going to be plenty of I told you so posts over the next few years because I think we have a much better chance of going the route of Nebraska than we do Georgia, but hopefully I’m wrong.
PSU fans downgrade our QB’s because of who we play yet they’re obviously not looking at Kentucky’s schedule the year Levis was decent.
Lol….yes they were different….as in….worse. For the record….i never believed that Drew was issue #1. I do believe that Drew was not in the correct scheme suited to his talent. Is he first round NFL talent ? IMO….no….but he will get drafted and will hang around as a backup for 4-5 years make a good living and then head to TV announcing or Wall Street etc.
Blame Smith for doing the same thing Franklin did
My biggest concern is how some of the possible coaches - that are REALISTICALLY in play - view the firing
Looking at Franklin’s tenure overall, there OBVIOUSLY.
is a lot more room to get worse than get better. The right new coach could quickly improve the team over this season with recruiting and the portal, but it’s a long way from there to improve on Franklin’s best.
Nobody would get more upset with Franklin's big, top ten losses than me. The two that really stung - and I'm still not over were those OSU collapses in successive years (2017 and 2018 ?) when we had the Suckeyes beat and collapsed both years in the 4th quarter. But Franklin did beat the teams he was supposed to beat. Well, until this year anyways.Looking at Franklin’s tenure overall, there OBVIOUSLY.
I'm also worried about what next year's roster will look like. It seems like many of our top players have already checked out and you have to wonder how many will transfer out with Franklin gone
I think the team did fine yesterday . I thought I would never watch a game again ........ life after . Actually I guess winning isn't everything ? What a terrible fan I am .
I'm amazed at how big the Rojas injury has turned out to be. Everyone knew we were thin at LB coming into the season, and Tony had generally underperformed relative to his athletic talent. But I felt like he was just starting to play faster. Yes Dante Moore hurt us with his feet but not nearly to the extent that Lamaleava, or the much less athletic NW and Iowa QBs. To successfully spy the QB, you have to be more athletic than he is - mostly faster. Rojas is. DeLuca's by all accounts a great kid but basically 0-fer on making these plays, and Campbell's only about 50-50. These guys have been ripping off 30, 40, 50 yard runs at critical times. If Rojas turns even half these plays into short gains - PSU likely wins all 3. Not to mention the way these last opponents have suddenly started gashing the D in the traditional running game. Could have maybe used an Wheatley, Tracy or Lane in the spy role. Should never come down to just one player on a great team, but this team isn't and this loss has killed them.
On offense, I've started noticing one glaring issue. Luke Reynolds is a terrible blocker. Thought he flashed some real athleticism last year and was exciting to watch him develop this year. But so many times when the running game gets blown up in the backfield, it's Reynolds' guy making the play. He completely ole'd a block on well set up screen play to the outside early in the Iowa game, then missed a number of other blocks that crushed any momentum in the run game. He also missed his block that blew up the 4th and 2 Allar run at the end of the UCLA game (bad call maybe but had no chance with this). as an aside, the Grunk interception that gave Iowa an easy score - hit Luke in the face. Maybe was thrown too hard and would have been a tough catch, but looked like his arms were strapped down or something. In any case, hardly the only issue on O, but Dinkins and Rappleyea should be getting the bulk of the snaps particularly on running downs IMO. Hate to pick on any kid, and I'll keep pulling for him. Ultimately the coaches need to adjust.
Oh well...
On offense, I've started noticing one glaring issue. Luke Reynolds is a terrible blocker. Thought he flashed some real athleticism last year and was exciting to watch him develop this year. But so many times when the running game gets blown up in the backfield, it's Reynolds' guy making the play. He completely ole'd a block on well set up screen play to the outside early in the Iowa game, then missed a number of other blocks that crushed any momentum in the run game. He also missed his block that blew up the 4th and 2 Allar run at the end of the UCLA game (bad call maybe but had no chance with this). as an aside, the Grunk interception that gave Iowa an easy score - hit Luke in the face. Maybe was thrown too hard and would have been a tough catch, but looked like his arms were strapped down or something. In any case, hardly the only issue on O, but Dinkins and Rappleyea should be getting the bulk of the snaps particularly on running downs IMO. Hate to pick on any kid, and I'll keep pulling for him. Ultimately the coaches need to adjust.
Oh well...
Ultimately I don't want a guy that's afraid of high expectations
You've only 'started' to notice Reynolds can't block? He's been horrible all season. Dinkins isn't much better.
I don't understand at all. Yesterday and every game going forward this season are irrelevant. It's all scrimmage. We win yesterday with Allar no matter who the coach is. Franklin needed to go, that's all there is to it. We'll play out the rest of the season, take our knocks and the new coach will probably (if we hire correctly) bring in a whole new team and we'll be fine.
Thin LB corp, weak D-line, New QB is not better than Drew, Tight ends ( Reynolds) are very weak blockers. The New Coach is going to need to go heavy into the portal to address the lack of talent on this team. Portal needs QB, LBers, D-Line, Wideouts, etc. Lots of $$$$ need to be spent to be maybe decent next year.
I’m actually more worried about Indiana. Cignetti seems ruthless and has a chip on his shoulder.
Parcells?The "splash hire" you guys were talking about isn't going to happen. Kraft might get this guy
I don't believe Kraft had a plan that included a fantasy hire. I do believe he should have had conversations concerning the possibilities. Otherwise, he made an emotional decision with a let's wait and see what happens as his plan.
With the possible exception of his BFF:
If he had talked with any of the decision makers among the upper-level coaching fraternity, (former)HCJF would have known about it before the first call ended (maybe a bit of hyperbole, but not much).
I said it elsewhere: one of the most glaring faults of the Franklin era was his REFUSAL to move on from certain guys. He wasn't interested in playing the best players. He was playing favorites.
Sure, maybe Clifford was the best option we had in any given year while he was here. But that perspective inherently paints the present day as the only thing that matters. In other words: mortgage the future in order to achieve a modest level of success NOW.
Sometimes, you have to be willing to take a hit in order to achieve greater things TOMORROW. And Franklin simply was not willing to do this.
In as much as I say, "Put the best 11 guys on the field!" that doesn't mean "a guy with a low ceiling that's reached his max potential". If we have to eat dirt for a bit with a talented, but inexperienced guy, then so be it. That's better than, "Aww, we lost to all our tough opponents again, because we never properly develop our talent!"
Kraft figures it’s Penn State and top candidates will all come to him. No work involved. He just sits in his office and waits for the phone to ring. ”Now, who do I want?”
It's possible that this is pretty close to the truth which is simultaneously understandable and scary.Kraft figures it’s Penn State and top candidates will all come to him. No work involved. He just sits in his office and waits for the phone to ring. ”Now, who do I want?”
Because it IS Penn State, right? Reputable people should want this job.
Because Kraft felt like he had to do something with a coach that perpetually failed to win big games, and then suddenly couldn't even land slam dunks with his best-ever team.
Because having no plan can be better than sticking with what you know isn't working.
Because the unknown is not comforting to anyone.
If it was that easy, every program in the country would do it all the time. Franklin only needed to go if we can hire someone better….its not looking like we won’t be able to do that: