Time for Franklin, PSU to dare to be greater
Just over a year ago, after a second straight agonizing one-point loss to Ohio State, Penn State football coach James Franklin made his famous, or infamous, elite/great remarks.
“We are a great program,” Franklin said then in an impassioned tone. “We lost to an elite program, and we are that close. We will no longer be comfortable being great. We are going to learn from this and grow from this.”
The 2019 Nittany Lions are 6-0 and ranked seventh in both major polls. How they do over the next five games, beginning Saturday with the White Out Game against No. 16 Michigan, should determine if the program has taken the next step.
After Michigan, Penn State faces Michigan State, Minnesota, Indiana and Ohio State before finishing against lowly Rutgers.
Since he was hired in
2014, Franklin has a 51-21 record (.708), which is impressive considering he took the Penn State job in the middle of the NCAA sanctions stemming from the Jerry Sandusky scandal.
The Lions won the Big Ten championship and reached the Rose Bowl in
2016 before beating Washington in the Fiesta Bowl in
2017. They finished in the top 10 in The Associated Press poll in both of those seasons and have been ranked every week since October 2016, the longest such streak since 1993-99.
“I’m very proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish in a rather short period of time under very, very difficult circumstances,” Franklin said this week. “And there have been a lot of people who have been a part of that. The thing we can’t do is take a deep breath and feel like we’re back.”
Before Penn State again becomes an elite program, it must fare better against Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State. In Franklin’s six seasons, the Lions are 4-12 against those three Big Ten East rivals and 47-9 against everyone else.
Penn State’s last four losses against Michigan State and Ohio State have been by a total of nine points. To get over those hurdles, the Lions have heeded former quarterback Trace McSorley’s advice and have dedicated themselves in every way since the end of last season.
“If that’s nutrition, sleep, hydration, getting extra treatment, studying more film, whatever that may be,” McSorley said last year, “we have to make up the difference and get from being a great team to make that next step.”
The buzzwords that Franklin and the players often mention are preparation and maturity.
“The way we approach every week and how guys are competing, we have a really mature approach,” safety Garrett Taylor said. “Guys have bought into that. We’re not worried about what’s ahead. We’re worried about what’s at hand this week and what we need to do to take care of business.”
The 2019 Lions were not expected to challenge for the Big Ten East championship before the season, let alone a national title. They returned just 11 starters on offense and defense and nine seniors. Almost three-fourths of the roster is made up of freshmen and sophomores.
Many pointed to 2020 as the year when Penn State would be in the best position to contend for the College Football Playoff. But that could change over the next month.
“My responsibility as the head coach is to push people to keep driving this thing forward,” Franklin said, “and do it in a way that fits underneath the Penn State umbrella and that everybody is comfortable with it.
“We’ve got to push. We’ve got to keep fighting and climbing and scratching and clawing for every little inch we can because the margin of error is so small where we’re at. Everything matters.”
The climb continues Saturday against Michigan, which destroyed Penn State 42-7 last season in Ann Arbor for its fourth win over the Lions in five years. A win over the Wolverines and then at Michigan State next week, which won’t be easy, of course, could thrust the Lions into the playoff picture.
Doing so could move Penn State closer to Franklin’s previously stated goal of becoming the first African-American to coach a major college football team to a national title.
“It’s not something that I spend a whole lot of time talking about,” he said this week, “but it is probably something I do carry with me that is important to me.”
Franklin understands that Penn State fans have and ultimately will judge him by how the Lions do against Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State, which is why the next month is so important to him.
“We are going to find a way to take that next step as a program because we have been knocking at the door long enough,” he said last year. “We are going to get this done. I give you my word.”
We shall see.