So, Penn State "over achieved" in 2016? Won the Big 10 and went to a major bowl game. A year later, they "over achieve" again and went to another major bowl game. Now, here they sit in 2018 as "over achievers" once again and it is the same old song and dance. Yet, some believe that 2019 is the year JF should have his act together and the team will be much more prepared/experienced??
Wait....PSU lost some key players from last year - I forgot that. However, those key players WHERE here last year when they blew that 21-3 lead against Ohio State and failed to close a 4th quarter lead against Sparty. And BTW, they failed to close 4th quarter leads against these SAME two teams at HOME this year!
If Penn State REALLY is over achieving these last three seasons, then I would think we need to view this as AHEAD of SCHEDULE. And with that said, shouldn't the HC be ahead of schedule too?
JF has done a very good job a Penn State so far. He has fielded some good teams and other than this past Saturday, his teams were in position to win every game last year and this year. The issue I am having is JF was not able to finish four of those games and dang near let Iowa come back to win this year as well....that is coaching as far as I am concerned. And to allow an "over achieving" team to get blown off the field last week was ridiculous! JF was not prepared, his team was not prepared and his coaches were not prepared against Michigan. That loss had NOTHING to do with rebuilding or inexperience. JF was out coached and out of his league....at least for that game.
I want JF to win, to be successful and to prove he can build and Elite program. He will never get there unless he makes changes to the current staff and stops talking so much!
My opinion of JF will be based on how the team finishes now. 4 games to go, they will be favored in all 4 games - including the bowl game if the go 3-0 the next three weeks. You want to talk about rebuilding, well here it is! Let's see how much fire JF has in is belly now!
Go State!!!
We’re not good enough to drop 26 passes and we dang sure ain’t good enough to put the ball on the ground and the stupid penalties have been a killer. These are the only problems we have IMO. Fix this crap and we are a top 5 team. Sometimes you just have these kinds of years that’s the way it goes. I think it would be a mistake to start firing coaches when we all know we’d be 8-1 had we not made these stupid mistakes. Keep fighting till we get it right and we will get it right as the team matures. It’ll probably be next year but I do see us having a good chance winning out. The schedule is very winnable these next 3 games. When you have a few NFL guys on your team like we had last 2 years you can hide weaknesses and that’s what we did. Remember I told y’all we were still recovering from the sanctions even what we was winning 11 games I just knew why we were winning 11 games. 5 or 6 NFL guys and a QB that didn’t make many mistakes, that’s why. BTW winning every game 49-7 are over with, these other teams have good players and coaches. Just winnthe game and go to the next one.
James Franklin is a joke of a coach. People also need to stop with the lines about the coach is still learning. He is in his eighth year as head coach.
Apparently you don’t know how tough the SEC is. Call in Alabama ‘s talk show with Nick Saban and ask him how hard it is to win 9 games coaching at Vanderbilt. Ask Saban how hard it was for James Franklin to win 9 games 2 straight years and win bowl games. Since Saban only won 10 games one year in 5 years ask him what kind of coach it would take to come in at Penn St under death penalty sanctions and win the conference in his 3rd year and Win 11 games 2 straight years and have winning records all 5 years. I guarantee you he would tell you it would take a dang good coach to accomplish what James Franklin has. James Franklin’s wins record speaks for itself (if) you know anything about football!
He's a joke that will continue to get outcoached bysmarter coaches year in year out.
Go away Troll.
Interesting comments by David Jones. Compares CJF with Saban's development. What Jones is saying is that CJF has growth potential, along with a good start.
The boogie man doesn’t phase me.
We still have sanctions to blame and every other excuse to whip up.
2019 is the year !
Got it..
I don't think anyone has postulated sanctions. Regardless, most here say give CJF time to become a better coach.
Remoh
Booger mcfly Roam?
Great article, thanks Navy
I have. And it’s true. They are still building the lines and depth. This post is Another example of how fans are ridiculously spiked
Murray, you crack me up! What are they rebuilding in State College? An Arc, Three Pyramids, The Taj Mahal, Leaning Tower of Pisa and a new Coliseum to replace Beaver Stadium? You give them any more time and they could probably add King Ludwig's castle.
And then it dawned on me. I never could figure out who was buying all of JF's snake oil. It is you.....only kidding! Lol
Look, I honestly believe you spend an enormous amount of time following and staying on top of PSU football. Me, I just go to the games, watch several a year from the sidelines and complain when they lose. For whatever reason, I get under your skin and hit nerves from time to time. But hey - i do that to my wife as well, so I know it is me and not you!
Have a nice rest of the week and I will get us back on track Saturday!
Go State!
When talking about the O and D lines, what exactly have they been building over the last 4 years; physical strength, technique, playing with and weeding out under performing recruits?
Honestly what I see from the couch, is a lack of flat out get up and knock the opposing man on his butt; you cannot teach that, that is an inner drive that a player has or doesn't. Of course he can get pissed off and pull it off for a couple plays but sustain that intensity over the long haul, just doesn't happen, kinda like flashes of brilliance. I think you can see this with DEs as well. The exceptional player in that position is just a flat out nuisance to the opposing offense the entire game, not just the last quarter etc..I think of Nassib in that position, everytime he was on the field there was just feeling that something good could happen, I don't see that with either of the current DEs. Parson's is another one, just looks like he plays with a different inner drive, like I'm gonna bust your butt.
Psu61, football is all about getting momentum and when you have the mistakes we’ve had all year, you ain’t going to get any momentum going. I’m telling ya, if Alabama had all the drops, fumbles and stupid penalties we’ve had they’d have 2 losses. Teams are to good today to make mistakes all game long. Just my opinion though
Dropped balls and several bad penalties are the story of this season. Those that point fingers at the coaches just DON’T KNOW.
Ordinarily I would argue that coaching does get blame for penalties. That's discipline. But some of the penalties that have been called his year are the product of poor officiating, and you cannot coach for that.
Indecisiveness, i.e. jerking your qb's around like at the end of the Michigan game is poor coaching, plain & simple.
Don't flatter yourself. You don't get under my skin. You just don't know football. As for you on the sidelines....lmao.....
I never said I was a football expert. I played both ways as a HS Fr....and we went undefeated that year and that was the end. I was a wrestler, one of top in the State of PA at my weight class and almost made the Olympic team...placed 6th in trials and only lost by a point to the eventual winner. This was quite a few years ago, it was my passion and so I gave up football and focused on one sport year round. The point is, I know what it takes to win, what having the right coach can do and I know when I was on the mat, it was up to me to execute what I was taught. Therefor, I don't blame JF for losses. Like everyone says, he can't make holes, catch passes or kick FG's. Heck, I am happy that he is the coach. Sure, I am going to call him out from time to time, but hey, it is easy to call the right play after you see what the previous play did wrong. Therefor, I consider myself an expert!
As for the side lines, I can go down on that field anytime I want to. I don't like to that much, it is hard to watch a game from there because you can't walk behind the players to go from one end to the other. So you have to watch a lot of the game on the screen.
As a kid growing up, I used to go to the practices and sit on the rolled up tarps and watch some of the greats practice. My neighbor was a QB at PSU and went on to coach while in graduate school. My cousin was a LB coach and my dads friend was a commentator for PSU. One of my wrestling buddies in HS started at LB for PSU and I was able to get to know quite a few of the good players from then and I still go to HH with some them from time to time.
So yes, I don't know anything about football, but I have had a nice life being around PSU.
Dang, I just FLATTERED myself! LOl
PS: You need to take a deep breath before you type. I honestly like hearing what you have to say and so does everyone else here. Just because I don't always agree with you or have a different opinion, doesn't make me a bad person. I don't think I ever once disrespected you on this site or PennLive.
Who was the LB’r buddy mtnittany? If you don’t mind me asking
When you think about coaching, you also need to think about recruiting. Not saying missing out on those games where we had the lead is acceptable, but we did have the lead which wouldn't have been possible had we not had the talent. Just sayin'.
