Penn State is not used to losing.
From volleyball to wrestling to soccer, most NCAA Division 1 athletics at Penn State are wildly successful, but none more than football. Two national championships and 44 postseason appearances for a school above the Mason-Dixon Line is nothing to bite your thumb at. As such, Penn State fans have come to expect winning seasons.
Joe Paterno, as taboo as his name may be, created a culture of success, technically winning 409 games during his tenure as head coach. Bill O’Brien took over and continued the tradition, going 8-4 his first year and 7-5 his second.
So this year, when under James Franklin, who took a Vanderbilt team that struggled for years and made them bowl eligible in his first season, the team has gone 4-4 and is riding a four-game losing streak, the fans are naturally upset. Franklin was supposed to be the cure-all to Penn State’s woes – he wants to stick around and he’s a great coach, which is exactly the kind of stability that the team, the fans, and the university were looking for after O’Brien abruptly left in 2013.
Under Franklin’s reign, the Nittany Lions would return to bowl eligibility, and indeed they did, earlier than they were supposed to. In a span of just two weeks, Penn State was 4-0 for the first time since 2008 and they had half of the NCAA’s sanctions lifted. However, just two short weeks later, everything came crashing down.
First, the Nittany Lions lost to Northwestern, which most assumed was a fluke. Franklin promised to “get it fixed” during the bye week, but then the team lost its next game. And the next, and the next.
Media and fans are tossing the blame around like it’s a hot potato – they blame Franklin’s system, they blame a frustrated Christian Hackenberg, they blame the holey offensive line, but truthfully, it’s not any one particular fault that’s causing these losses. The simple truth is that the team as a whole is struggling. It was severely weakened by the NCAA’s sanctions, and O’Brien chose to focus his limited scholarships on building a stronger defense, which is still benefiting the team, as they are nationally ranked in the top ten for three categories: rushing defense, scoring defense, and total defense.
So yes, the Nittany Lions are struggling, but all hope is not lost.
Penn State is still a team with strong players; linebacker Mike Hull was recently added to the Bednarik watchlist, kicker Sam Ficken was named a Lou Groza Award semifinalist, and Hackenberg is still a great quarterback, even though he’s had his fair share of ups and downs this season.
This is the third year of the sanctions, the so-called “bottoming out” that was predicted soon after the NCAA handed down their decision in 2012. Fans should keep in mind that this season, by all accounts, should be much, much worse. Penn State still has a very good chance at being bowl eligible, and a win at Indiana this weekend could be the momentum the Lions need. Winning just two of their remaining regulation games means a bowl is in their future, and many would call that a successful season.
Even if Penn State loses its remaining games, fans and media alike should focus on the small victories that the team has had this year, like those top ten rankings, being named the number one student section in the country, and almost beating an Ohio State team that was supposed to win by 40 points. Urban Meyer was nervous, and that’s not an emotion that comes naturally to him. Although they lost, the team and its fans should celebrate that.
So yes, Penn State has struggled this year, more than any of its fans would ever want to see the “dear old White and Blue” struggle. But the bottom line is that the Nittany Lions will improve from season to season; most of the current team is young and a lot of the recruiting class is very highly ranked.
Franklin has only been here for 11 months, and in that time, he’s done a pretty decent job. Under his tutelage, the Nittany Lions will continue to grow, and soon enough, if it’s not already here, the tradition of winning will be back.
Photo credit: GoPSUSports.com
