Exactly Roam. Just to make a bowl game at Vanderbilt you have to do everything right and James Franklin was winning 9 games. I don’t think people understand how hard that is to do at Vanderbilt. Your stats should shed some light on it.them stats don’t lie either

Yup obvious he'll only survive if he has quality assistants and right now he does not. He should be sending a portion of his paycheck to Gattis and Moorhead.

I wonder if Moorhead wants to come back.

I somewhat agree with what you are trying to say Roam, but let me throw this analogy out here.  Many young entrepreneurs are absolutely awesome at starting up businesses ... worked for a guy once that I said could sell a lawnmower to an arab!  But as these businesses grow to 10 people, 25, 50 it becomes too much for the original guy and at that point the businesses either go out of business, or get scooped up by a larger company that can handle the growth rate of said business - I think you catch the point I am trying to make.

As much as I like Franklin, could he be falling into this same scenario - a perennial door mat type of team can really flourish under a Franklin lead philosophy - but in one of the Top Schools in the country with a Legacy as large as Penn State's and with the deep tradition of its football program - could he have reached his so called "ceiling" ???  I don't know, I hope not cuz I want 11 win seasons consistently and chances at National Championships quite frequently.  Penn State is the type of program that this is achievable.

And to continue my point - Hopefully Franklin is realizing that his initial philosophy that did take a Vanderbilt and turn them into a winning program, is no longer what is needed now here at Penn State.  Can he learn and adapt to what is needed to become "Elite"?    I sure hope so - he's invested so much time and energy into making Penn State relevant again - just get us there, it's all I ask and pray for.

Yet he won the Big Ten here, and has two back to back top 10 seasons. So I don't think your analogy holds up, because he seems to be pretty darn good on the big stage too.

And for anyone saying he can't coach... As said 1 million times, there is no question he can coach. You don't play with top ranked teams into the fourth quarter if you can't. His issue is the end of the game against top teams. I never said he was perfect, but he needs to get better at the end of games. I fully admit and agree with that.

But saying he is a bad coach, or he sucks? That's just idiotic talk. Also saying 2014 & 2015 are proof of anything, when he literally had 25 less scholarships than every other FBS team, is completely stupid. If someone brings up his record during that time as some sort of proof that he stinks... In my opinion all they are doing is proving their idiocy. But hey, everyone is entitled to their opinion.

Did not Morehead Lose to the same two teams last year in his second year as OC with many NFL Drafted players. Let's give Ricky some time to get things the way he wants them.

Yep, and Pry was the DC in 2016 when we shut down OSU in the 4th quarter and upset the giant.  Some people on here seem to forget that.

Stop the penalties and catch the dang football and everything is good. People need to stop panicking over something that’s fixable. The drops have stopped the chains from moving costing us TD’s and killing momentum plus it puts the young defense back on the field. Clean up these 2 things and we will not lose another game.

It’s a process.

Dating back to the loss to USC in the Rose Bowl, PS has given up the lead in the 4th quarter in five games. All five of those games ended in PS loss. And last Saturday it was almost loss #6.  I wouldn't be too far off the mark to say that there is a pattern developing in PS's inability to close out a close game when holding the lead successfully!

Actually, the Iowa game last year they gave up the lead with 1:42 left but only a miraculous dive and a pass by McSorley as time expired saved the win. But I agree mb that they have let way too many slip away from them in the 4th quarter.

Of course you wouldn't! I've said numerous times that I think his end of game coaching is a valid criticism. Absolutely! I think it's also fixable. He's shown the ability to adapt and change before in order to get better, I think he can get better at the end of games by adapting too.

At the end of the day, he's had the lead with six minutes left in games 100% of the time. Every single game we've played in the past 2 1/2 years we've had a chance to win against some of the best teams in the country. A man who has no idea how to coach wouldn't be able to accomplish that.

However, as you stated there is concern for how he handles the end of games. That's obvious as well, and he needs to get better.

Every coach out there makes mistakes coaching when the game is on the line. The USC and Michigan State games we dropped INT’s to win the game so IMO that’s on the players if they’re in position to make a play. Last year against Michigan State we had a late stupid penalty that give them a first down to kick an easy FG. If I blame James Franklin for anything it’s the stupid penalties, this crap has to stop because we’re not good enough to overcome ‘em and it’s killing the team.

Ok, let me get this straight! It's Franklin's fault that the players are committing too many "stupid penalties" but it's all on the players for dropping too many passes!😁 Aren't both issues directly related to coaching and training?

Players choking in crunch time happens. Penalties are a discipline problem that shouldn’t happen. Alabama’s receivers drop balls although not that many lol but they are a very discipline football team because they know better and I’ll leave it at that mb lol. I guess you could say James Franklin is responsibly for everything but the bottom line is he can’t catch the ball for ‘em and our guys are in position to make plays in crunch time and we just ain’t getting it done. If the players were out of position then it would be a coaching problem unless the guys are young and still learning but #84 and#21 should be making plays in crunch time and they’re not. It was a easy INT last week and #21 choked and it cost us a win. I could care less what happened the rest of the game it was crunch time and we choked and lost because of it. I’m still pissed mb lol

I think Ricky Rahne is doing a great job we just need to catch the football and keep them chains moving.

Really? His play calling and game planning is probably the most questionable thing about this season so far.

In the lastl four weeks you're probably the only person I've seen or heard say they think he is doing a good job.

" they are a very discipline football team because they know better." Not even sure what that means but I sure wish PS would "know better" if that what it takes!

" If the players were out of position then it would be a coaching problem unless the guys are young and still learning " You might want to take another look at the game and see how many times veteran Farmer is out of position to make a play.

" our guys are in position to make plays in crunch time and we just ain’t getting it done. " That is not exception, that is a pattern. And that is up to to coaches to break that pattern.

If you remember 2  years ago - this team would come out flat in the first half, and then just pour it on in the second half - Franklin always said he'd like to see more urgency in the first half - possibly some of the changes in philosophy or structure to be better early, has led to being bad late in the games ????  I don't have the stats, but we outscored teams in the 4th quarter that year bigtime!  A little tweak here and there may reveal improvements in some areas, but also reveal new flaws in others - it's the balance of life portrayed in a football game.

That's an interesting take BoB, I wonder... Good thought!