we have couple blue chip QBs (sorely needed) and RB hopefully still coming in next year. Desperately need O and D lineman..........desperately! This effort tonight would have demolished Illinois I just don't understand how team and coaches were so inadequately prepared and uninspired. This should have only been the first loss of season. Not sure how team will fare rest of season. Mich and Mich St much improved.
Well Team At Least Showed Up to Play - Some Bad Breaks - Need Some Recruiting Help
- Thread starter PSUHammering1
- Start date
Gritty Big Ten football game by both teams.
My secretary’s son plays for Governor Mifflin and is Singleton’s best friend. He ain’t going anywhere else and is enrolling in January. I am not into moral victories but I don’t see any of the recruits bailing after tonight’s game.
Will he still come if CJF bails? I hope so, but ND seems to be still after him.
As good as next year's class is it is disappointing that our 3 OL recruits are rated no better than 3 stars.
After Illinois, I was pleased to see the team show up to play last night in a hostile environment against the team that is likely going to win the B1G (again). They showed guts, and despite Clifford's two turnovers (resulting from a collapsed line), we're not in that game as much as we are without him. Highlights the frustration that the offense is largely one dimensional (lack of a running game and even more so with SC not being a real threat to run currently), behind a line that is average at pass blocking and below mediocre in run blocking. We can nitpick the coaching, but aside from going on 4th down at midfield in the 2nd rather than playing field position on the road, the gameplan was solid (actually pleased by some of the red zone wrinkles when cringing at the memory of last week's 7 two point conversion efforts). As Hammering said, hopefully help is on the way.
It was a very strong effort and some honest officiating may have been enough for this team. Conference teams need to be about 2 TDs better than Ohio St or Michigan to get it done. Look at last night's game.
1) The snap infraction was a fumble recovered by the good guys deep in Ohio St territory. 3 to 7 points difference gifted to Buckeyes in a critical part of the game.
2) Lovett was being contacted as he went out of bounds on the long TD catch and run. You are permitted to come back in and be the first to touch it. Another 7 points difference gifted to Buckeyes.
3) Many of our penalties were of the variety of very iffy defensive holding calls on their scoring drives. Most of their penalties were players moving before the snap or clear cut late hits or text book targeting on our recovering from injury QB.
I'm not saying the only reasons we lost were officiating but if the "bad calls" come close to evening out then we are right there with them. That and if blocking a FG for a TD was a fluke in 2016 then a 305 lb DT running 60 yards for a TD when we were driving is even more of a fluke.
We aren't far off. We haven't been for several years but the combination of the talent differential brought in with each class and the very consistent officiating errors always in the same direction have kept us just a notch behind.
1) The snap infraction was a fumble recovered by the good guys deep in Ohio St territory. 3 to 7 points difference gifted to Buckeyes in a critical part of the game.
2) Lovett was being contacted as he went out of bounds on the long TD catch and run. You are permitted to come back in and be the first to touch it. Another 7 points difference gifted to Buckeyes.
3) Many of our penalties were of the variety of very iffy defensive holding calls on their scoring drives. Most of their penalties were players moving before the snap or clear cut late hits or text book targeting on our recovering from injury QB.
I'm not saying the only reasons we lost were officiating but if the "bad calls" come close to evening out then we are right there with them. That and if blocking a FG for a TD was a fluke in 2016 then a 305 lb DT running 60 yards for a TD when we were driving is even more of a fluke.
We aren't far off. We haven't been for several years but the combination of the talent differential brought in with each class and the very consistent officiating errors always in the same direction have kept us just a notch behind.
The OL continues to be a major weakness. On Cliff’s interception , Dotson had his man beat and was open behind the defender but Clif had not chance to step into the throw and he doesn’t have the arm strength to throw it 50 yds falling backwards. IMO the fumble and scoop was the turning point of the game. We got behind by 10
and could not get over the hump. Don’t know if folks saw it, but after Stouts’ horrible FG attempt late in the game, Franklin was seen yelling “WTF was that” on the sideline. Where is Pinegar?
and could not get over the hump. Don’t know if folks saw it, but after Stouts’ horrible FG attempt late in the game, Franklin was seen yelling “WTF was that” on the sideline. Where is Pinegar?
I watched that game last night as if I was watching two teams I don't have a rooting interest in knowing from the opening kickoff we weren't winning that game. I sat through that miserable Illinois game and it really changed my whole perspective on Coach Franklin. A good football team, like the Penn State team who played last night, does not mail it in against Illinois (who lost at home yesterday to Rutgers). That is 100% on Franklin. I don't think he's cut out for the job if (big if) Penn State really wants to compete for national championships.
Absolutely agree. It makes me wish we could relegate CJF to a recruiting only role and have another coach for game-time/planning decisions. And his waffling distractions with the USC/LSU jobs does nothing to help the morale of the team.
It's my second-ever post and I have been following PSU since the mid-seventies. I am torn about this matter. While I like CJF and what he has done for the Penn State community- I think a "fresh start" is best for all parties involved. I truly believe CJF has reached his ceiling here, and don't see him taking the program to the next level. Next year appears to be a rebuild regardless of who is coach and the schedule for the first half is very difficult. I would like to try a new direction.
I am not sure that Franklin is the truly elite coach we want, but before you run him out of town you better be sure that you can get someone that is better. There is no guarantee that someone like Fickell (if he is even a better coach which is TBD) would even come here. If you run him out and then don't make a better hire it will set this program back 5 years.
That team we watched last night was an extremely well-prepared and tough team that lost largely because of poor OL play. Those players played their asses off in that game, they could've easily folded after Illinois. Don't take that for granted.
That team we watched last night was an extremely well-prepared and tough team that lost largely because of poor OL play. Those players played their asses off in that game, they could've easily folded after Illinois. Don't take that for granted.
Leave no doubt the kids played their hearts out but to the point, would someone tell James Franklin there's this thing called the transfer portal.
Look, every team has embraced player free agency but us. Why not. Because James did not want to "upset the team's culture." So despite losing two QBs and being woefully thin at DT he goes out and gets a single DL. How's it worked out for us overall. Well, in order to answer that question look no further than Sparty. Most of Michigan State's roster consists of mercenaries to include RB phenom Kenneth Walker III. It enabled a second-year head coach to go from 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds. In the meantime, where's James. He's preparing his resume for USC! Well, have fun explaining your mismanagement of the depth chart during job interviews.
It's a new dawning-- a new age-- for college football but James is late to the party. That will be the tagline for the season should we lose out and right now, Maryland looms large. After all, they beat Illinois. So did Rutgers.
Look, every team has embraced player free agency but us. Why not. Because James did not want to "upset the team's culture." So despite losing two QBs and being woefully thin at DT he goes out and gets a single DL. How's it worked out for us overall. Well, in order to answer that question look no further than Sparty. Most of Michigan State's roster consists of mercenaries to include RB phenom Kenneth Walker III. It enabled a second-year head coach to go from 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds. In the meantime, where's James. He's preparing his resume for USC! Well, have fun explaining your mismanagement of the depth chart during job interviews.
It's a new dawning-- a new age-- for college football but James is late to the party. That will be the tagline for the season should we lose out and right now, Maryland looms large. After all, they beat Illinois. So did Rutgers.
IMO this is what happens with guaranteed income and low expectations from management. It's not tolerated at other programs.
Let's hope our recruits can withstand the pressure other programs will put on them to abandon ship.
Seriously what rock have you been living under? Franklin brought in several kids this past offseason, including a RB, DE, DT and DE. But what the hell, why let facts ruin a good anti-Franklin *****.
Acknowledging that last night exceeded my expectations after what we witnessed last week, I find myself torn as well and agreeing with your take more than I used to. I look at Penn State of the last 10 years as good, but not good enough if the measuring stick is championships or appearing in the CFP. I don't dislike Franklin, and there have been some great moments in his tenure, and by most accounts, he seems like a decent person, but those great moments are becoming fewer and may have been more the result of catching lightning in a bottle with a handful of critical players at the right time in 16-17. Even then, the team came just short of the pinnacle, highlighting just how much has to go right in a season to get there. That being said, do we have someone better standing at the threshold waiting to take us to the next level, or do we risk losing good with occasional great (CJF) for what has happened to once elite programs like Texas, FSU, USC? This is the clear point across which many fans disagree, but ultimately it's not our decision, and regardless we have no way of knowing if the grass is actually greener without him unless he leaves, as much as we care to speculate. However, I'm also reaching the point where I'm curious to see if in fact it might be.
A lot of blah blah blah posts. Always glass half filled. Always ignoring yet another 4th quarter meltdown. Three in a row now. It’s more then just talent. The talent is close but the coaching is way off.
Well count me in the grass is not always greener group for now. Franklin conceded that he didn’t have the team ready for Illinois and he deserves criticism for that (although if Brisker makes a pick and Warren simply lobbed the ball to Clifford, they still would have won). The fact is if Clifford doesn’t get hurt at Iowa, they would be 6-1 instead of 5-3. Criticism for not having a capable backup is fair, but I don’t blame that on Franklin. Yurcich was heralded as a developer of QBs but obviously hasn’t done much with Roberson. I think the major problem is that he simply hasn’t had a transcendent QB. It looked like he had one before Fields flipped to Georgia and then transferred to OSU. Clemson who annually has top 5 recruiting classes also has 3 losses now that Lawrence graduated and the ACC isn’t as strong as the Big. Most of the teams in the top 5 have excellent QBs, Williams at Oklahoma and Young at Alabama immediately come to mind. I think Allar is that kind of talent and would like to see what they can do with him over the next few years. If they still are losing 3 or more games 2-3 years from now, then fine move on from Franklin.
There are certainly things about which CJF can be criticized, but in order to make the case that he has ignored the transfer portal, the contributions of Ebiketie, Tangelo, Stoudt, and (albeit to a lesser extent) Lovett and Dixon have to be completely ignored. Also, the QB depth issue is legitimate, but it is not realistic to expect that most transfer portal QB's are seeking jobs as backups with little to no chance to actually compete for the starter role.
I have to agree. The teams that ride the coaching carousel every 2 to 3 years because they are only consistently 8-9 win teams usually end up becoming barely .500 teams. The grass is always greener until it consistently isn't and then it's too late. I'm still firmly in the Franklin and company aren't far away from getting to the playoff and potentially winning it all. I think the talent level is continuing to tick up and it's not easy jumping Ohio St in that category while they are offering millions in NIL money to 4th string QBs that should still be in HS. And yet with significantly lower recruiting average, we are right there with them every year.
All about their inability to run the ball. How you all give this staff a pass is pathetic.the is the worst running team in all of football. That includes all divisions. Franklin will point out no explosive plays, at this point I’d take a three yard play. That would be moving in a positive direction. Expectations are so low, for this part of the game. Throughout his tenure his teams have given up more negative yardage plays then anyone else in football.
Is Ohio State losing at home to Illinois -level teams? We are light years from O$U right now (a gutsy performance by our team/coaching staff on Saturday notwithstanding).
Exactly. The running game is a colossal failure and will not only prevent us from defeating teams like O$U but leaves us exposed in games like Michigan State and Iowa and even Illinois level teams.
And this is not a new development.
IMO it is unacceptable for a program that seeks status in the top echelon (dare I say elite) of college football.
This is not a “tweak” (to go from one of the worst running teams to among the best) and requires very substantive changes.
I say 8 years is enough.
49-20 L to unranked Purdue a couple of years ago
55-24 L to unranked Iowa the year before that
I guess when Ohio St loses to unranked teams it's all good because they are blowout losses.
Look, I'd take their record over the last few years no doubt. But we aren't light years from them and they know it. They circle the PSU game every year because we are their biggest threat most years.
Th
There is a lot of hype about the OSU-Michigan game but Michigan cannot begin to compete with OSU as PSU has. Their games are usually OSU blowouts. They may try to advertise it as a rivalry but it isn’t. OSU’s biggest conference rival is our beloved nittany lions.
Both losses you note were on the road to a 4 - 3 Purdue team and 6 - 3 Iowa team. Penn State is not even close to OSU. By the way, when was the last time OSU lost two games in a row?
Neither were anywhere near the (low) caliber team as Illinois 2021. Both were also road tilts. And you are taking about 2 of their only losses in conference over the past several years. Has Fsy even lost a conference game yet?
PSU was 4-5 in conference last year and we are 2-3 this year heading for another sub .500 record. Apples to oranges…by a large order of magnitude. Some people will go to no end to justify our ineptitude.
You are right that the running game stinks, but (1) Franklin wasn't playing on the line and (2) that's why Trautwein was hired. Seems to me the coaches did a good job and giving the team a chance to win knowing their run game stinks, but that's probably just me.
Good thing the AD and administration doesn't give a royal rat's you know what about what you thing.
The bottom line is great teams run the ball. Something Franklin has never been able to do consistently. Even with Barkley the running game was break a big run or get stuffed. Barkey should have been a Heisman winner with his talent. Reminds me of Barry Sanders with Detroit.
Purdue was 6-7 that year. They were a bad team. Iowa at least finished 8-5 including a Pinstripe Bowl win over 7-6 BC.
I am merely pointing out that contrary to the earlier claim in the thread, Ohio St does take bad losses as well.
And yes, they still view us as their top threat nearly every year. The game is circled before the season for them as well. And it's the reason that they went so hard after guys like McCord and Flemming so they would be sitting on their bench and not scoring TDs against them.
For the Future (11.2.21): Top Lists, Aamil Wagner Announces Commitment Date, & Crystal Ball to Penn State for Top Target
Despite the results of recent games, Penn State's future is as bright as ever.
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