and it's all caused by James Franklin winning too early with some limited teams. PSU is low man on the returning starters at 12. MSU and UM returned a WHOPPING 21. PSU lost its three most important offensive weapons in Hamilton, Barkley and Gesicki. That's a TON of offense to lose....not to mention they only returned THREE on defense.
Gentlemen, this IS a rebuilding year. You don't want to hear it but yes, it's Franklins first year with HIS team post sanctions and we all were pretty much in agreement that the first four years you couldn't judge what he's done. His first two years he was hamstrung. His first class was ranked 24th. That was 2014. Those players are now the senior class. Wright, Scott, McSorely , Ouwariye (not very great)Farmer (shouldn't be starting), are all that's left of that class.
In 2015 he managed to bring in the 14th ranked class. Many were redshirted, some disappeared Barkley gone and the remaining are now either juniors or redshirt sophs. Johnson is a bust this year, Jenkins never developed, Bowen is gone, Bucholz gone, Palmer flopped, Komonte gone, Andre Robinson gone, Charles gone, Holland too, that's a good chunk of what should be juniors or redshirt sophs. What's left is decent, Reid, Taylor, Bates, Bowers, Givens..Polk never developed into a good receiver. Those two classes were filled with either "what we can get" or players that were MOSTLY, not all, borderline 4* players that never really developed sans Gesicki, Barkley and Hamilton.
2016 - 20th ranked team. Small class, only 20 taken. These guys are all guys that were either redshirted or are playing now. Miles is a true Jr. as is McGovern and Cam Brown. Simmons is a rs soph, as are Menet, Jordan, Daniel Joseph and Zach McPhearson.
Right now, for the most part, this team is being led by the classes of 2017 and 2018
If you don't think this is a rebuilding year you've lost your mind. 2019 was ALWAYS, since he was hired, the year Franklin was to be judged by. A coach needs a good 4 years to build his team. No way can you count the first two. No Way. technically, this is year 3 for him. They'll return 19 starters, 10 on offense and 9 on defense and will now have TRUE depth, not young depth.
So please, give it a rest. This was NEVER going to be a great year.
A voice of reason. Thank you.
Franklin is a good coach. PSU is fortunate to have him!
Good points and greatly appreciate the comments about the players, but look what is being said about JF:
4th & 17 and James Franklin calls a timeout??? To bring his punt team on the field??? #ThisGuy
The Michigan analyst calls out Franklin for terrible use of a timeout in an obvious punting situation. What was going on in Ann Arbor for the Nittany Lions?
James Franklin was right about Penn State not being an elite team yet, but they aren’t a great team or a good team either so whoops
This NFL Draft scout calls out one of Franklin's preferred lines from after the Ohio State loss last month. It's one that has been used against him since.
Michigan just kicked it out of bounds.
So, you'd think, Penn State would take it at the 35, right?
Nope. James Franklin elected to let Michigan re-kick it and now Penn State has to start its drive at the 21-yard line.
James Franklin is a gift.
Again, no explanation for a re-kick here. It was another coaching gaffe for the Nittany Lions that didn't pay and changed field position against one of the nation's top defenses.
Just saw a replay of the Trace McSorley third down run/slide. Not sure why James Franklin didn't challenge it.
Another miss here from Franklin, which gets magnified even in a 35-point loss.
James Franklin is going to take a ton of crap for this, particularly coming off the last five weeks. It wouldn’t be the worst move in the world for him to maybe look around.
Ouch — a national analyst already expressing a need for Franklin to browse other coaching options. You're only as good as your last game in this industry it seems.
There were several more comments said by national writers. All the comments are pointed to JF, HC of PSU. I understand the sanctions and the impact, but national writers see, JF's record on the road against ranked teams, 0 - 11 and loss margin, 26 points. JF is being looked at for what he is doing right now. And maybe, one of the national writers would ask JF, why bring up "Elite" in a presser.
Maybe JF could get fired up on the sidelines like he did when the fan heckled him after the last play of the OSU Game. JF needs to be a HEAD COACH, not a HEAD CHEERLEADER. PSU is a National Brand.
That doesn't begin to address Franklin's sideline/game mismanagement. His revolving door with McSorely and Stevens left most pundits scratching their collective heads. Without a doubt McSorely is lost when he comes back to the sideline. He has no one to talk to face to face with Rahne up in the booth. Franklin avoids him like the plague! McSorely heads directly to the bench only to sit next to Clifford. Compare that to last year when he could actually have a serious discussion with Moorhead instead of a 30 second conversation over a headset. Besides Moorhead on the sidelines, there was Huff and Gattis who have since move on. Now look who the replacments are; a former grad assistant and the receivers coach who was formerly at Army, with a passing philosophy that would have made Woody Hayes envious. The loss of those three coaches have left a void that Franklin is incapable of filling.
PSU was a national brand but hasn't been in at least twenty years. Joe Paterno stayed too long and 15 years past his prime and when he did the fanbase gradually learned to accept just being good but not great or elite. Now that I think about it maybe Franklin is the guy to keep the latest tradition going.
Joepa "past his prime" was a better game manager & game day coach than JF!
Bill, I agree with you regarding the big picture, but that game Saturday was unquestionably an exhibition of bad to terrible coaching.
Les Miles did win a NC... Just saying there are worse things.
Who in here that wasn't a psycho that go blocked is calling for Franklin to be fired? I mean, I agree with the post for the most part... but you can be critical of the coaching AND ALSO realize this is a rebuilding year. The two aren't mutually exclusive, and Franklin has made some head scratching decisions this year.
who gives a flip what a bunch of talking heads who's job it is to create talking points?
really? incapable of filling? they left THIS YEAR. Who's to say he wont bring in some new coaches? who's to say the current coaches wont excel with another year under their belts AND MORE MATURE PLAYERS, something they actually had last year. Come on.
The fanbase that pay for tickets, parking spaces, refreshments and merchandise are the ones that give a flip and they are also the ones that will eventually demand he be fired unless things improve.
"borderline 4* players that never really developed sans Gesicki, Barkley and Hamilton." Well, isn't that the coaches responsibility to develop players? And there are players i.e. Thompkins that have actually regressed this year.
but when the punt call works he's a genius...being a coach sometimes means playing the lottery. He wanted to give his playmaker a chance to make the play. It DID work before and we all cheered. hypocrites. Much as McSorely missed a wide open td, dropped a handoff, polk dropped a pass, those things cant be controlled. We saw some of these players make those plays last year. This year they arent for whatever reason. Ive said it before, a coach can only do so much....at some point the players have to make the plays. as for the review, correct.
many here are talking hot seat, countdown to be fired, axe some assistants...all silly. By the same terms OSU fans can say the same thing. "barely beat a mediocre PSU, almost lost to crappy Purdue, Got whopped by Purdue....
you can only coach to a players potential....if they don't have it, they dont have it...see Hackenberg..
howd that "fan vote" work out after Michigan 2 years ago? Good thing there are responsible people making those decisions.....stands will be full again next game....
Fireworks in recruiting....😉
Two years ago I'm sure most fans gave Franklin a pass but this year is different.
Too bad Vegas doesn't put odds on whether the stands will be full or not.
When you are successfully signing four and five star players, potential is not the issue. However, when the same players fail to progress that is a problem!
really? I guess you didn't watch your coveted "news anchors" back then....
