Skip to main content

Rob Stone grills long travel defense of Penn State losses: 'I'm tired of that B.S.'

On3 imageby: Dan Morrison10/09/25dan_morrison96
penn-state-holds-edge-in-crowded-big-ten-gerry-dinardo
(Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

The Penn State Nittany Lions saw their season turn upside down during a road trip to Los Angeles. There, they dropped a game to the previously winless UCLA Bruins. It was a loss so inexplicable that it left everyone looking for reasons why it could have happened, with everything down to the travel receiving some blame.

Rob Stone of The Triple Option thinks he knows what the issue was for Penn State. As he put it, the Oregon Ducks beat Penn State twice. The loss carried over and cost them a second game, which may have also cost them a shot at getting back to the College Football Playoff.

“Let’s be honest,” Stone said. “This is a game that we should not have been watching. When we all got on the plane after Michigan took care of Wisconsin. I was the one like, ‘Hey, let’s check in on Penn State. How they doing?’ And I’m like, ‘They’re down what? They’re still down what?’ All of a sudden, all of us on the plane are watching that game. This should have been a nothing game. Instead, Penn State let Oregon beat them two weeks in a row. I am convinced about that. Oregon took them down last week and the carryover, the hangover, travelled with them to the west coast and they laid an absolute egg.”

The frustration for many Penn State fans is that this season was one where the Nittany Lions were expected to compete for a national championship. Now, that seems like a long shot, which has become too common under James Franklin.

“It’s because of performances like that,” Stone said. “And we talked about James Franklin last week, as Penn State and James Franklin hit that ceiling. Listen, I think there’s a lot of Penn State fans and alums out there who are very appreciative of what James Franklin has done for them, but I think that ceiling, he keeps smacking it right now. Bam. Bam. This is only as good as we can get. And this good is really good. This good is really good.”

One thing, in all of this, that Stone doesn’t want to hear is that travel gets blamed. It’s been used by coaches around the Big Ten, including James Franklin and Penn State, as a reason for sluggish performances. However, that’s the shape of the conference now. That’s part of the challenge.

“Don’t give me that West Coast travel stuff,” Stone said. “I’m tired of that B.S. That’s what the conference is right now, right? West Coast teams have to come Midwest and kick off early. That’s what you signed up for.”

Now, Penn State needs to bounce back in a major way. The Nittany Lions will be trying to do so in Happy Valley once again, back from their West Coast trip, and ready to take on the Northwestern Wildcats.