Does Penn State have a national championship caliber team? Here's what James Franklin told The Triple Option podcast

As it sits 73 days from its Aug. 30 opener against Nevada, Penn State is, for the first time in the James Franklin era, viewed as potentially the preseason No. 1 team and is among the shortest odds in the country for who could win this year’s College Football Playoff. The Lions are among the nation’s leaders in returning starters, especially on offense, and received favorable grades for what they did in the transfer portal this offseason.

Because of all of that, Rob Stone, a FOX sports broadcaster and one of the co-hosts of The Triple Option podcast with Urban Meyer and Mark Ingram II, asked the 12th-year leader of the Lions on their Wednesday episode a simple question: “Look at your roster right now: Do you have a national championship team sitting there in Happy Valley right now?”

Franklin, as he is wont to do, quickly shifted the focus to the next task at hand, which is the Wolfpack, as opposed to answering the question directly. But, he did at least allow for the idea that he, and his team, are aware of what they can accomplish this fall.

“I think we got a tremendous opportunity to do some special things this year,” Franklin said. “I know you don’t want me to do this, but I am excited about our opportunity; I’m looking up on the screen right now, Nevada is our opening game. People are going to say, ‘well, that’s not a big game.’ Well, lose to Nevada and find out. We’re focused on that. But, I also am totally comfortable with talking about the things that we aspire to do as a team this year and as a season and for these players.

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“To me, that’s the biggest thing. I want these players to experience this. I want these players that have come back and made these sacrifices to be a part of something special. And that’s why I wake up very early. That’s why I go to sleep late at night, trying to put these players in the best position to be successful at it and have a very, very special season this year at Penn State.”

It’s not the first time Franklin has been asked that question this year and won’t be the last. The same goes for another inquiry Stone threw at the head coach: “What does Penn State need to do on the field to prove to people, ‘Hey, we belong in this upper echelon of college football?’

Here was Franklin’s response:

“I think first thing is, you got to embrace that, right? I mean, that’s, that’s the nature of major college football. That’s part of being at a place like Penn State. I mean, we finished fifth in the country last year, and people are pissed, right? Like, that’s what the Penn State job is about. You got to embrace that. I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished. We’ve been as consistent as any program in the country. We’ve been as consistent at Penn State as Penn State’s ever been since joining the Big Ten. So I’m proud of all those things.

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“But I also understand fully embrace that we got to take that next step. And it’s winning those games that you’re talking about. We totally understand that we’re excited about that. That’s what this year is all about, taking those steps. And I think one of the things that we’re doing, I think, a good job of, is balancing that with also not doing what a lot of programs do as well, which is lose the games that you’re not supposed to lose.

“We’ve done a really good job of that, and what I don’t want to do is, now we put such an emphasis on these other games, and now we end up losing to some teams that we’re not supposed to. So that’s the balancing act, and I’m proud of the staff, and I’m proud of the players, of how we’re approaching it, and we got tremendous opportunity to change that conversation and change that narrative.”

You can find the full episode on Apple Podcasts here. A video version is available on YouTube, as well.