Expectations ready for surge
Foundation for ’20 set after Cotton win
ARLNGTON, Texas — Before the 2019 season began, Penn State was rarely, if ever, mentioned as a top contender in Football Bowl Subdivision.
At season’s end, the No. 13ranked Nittany Lions (11-2, 7-2 Big Ten Conference) still aren’t in that conversation, really. They didn’t have any argument for the College Football Playoff. There is obviously more nuance to it than that, though. Penn State won 11 games for the third time in the past four seasons. It won the Cotton Bowl Classic Saturday, its second New Year’s Six Bowl win of the past four years. At one point, the Nittany Lions had an 8-0 record and a spot in the top four of the preliminary College Football Playoff rankings.
All of that in a season that was thought to be a rebuilding year of sorts, with, among other things, a first-year starting quarterback, young skill position players and a brutally tough schedule.
Nonetheless, the Nittany Lions succeeded, which made the season itself exciting, but it also gives hope moving into next season.
“I think when you go all the way back to before the season started, nobody was really talking about Penn State, even within our own conference,” coach James Franklin said after 53-39 win Saturday against No. 15 Memphis. “Those other teams were getting most of the publicity. And here we are in another New Year’s Six game and had an opportunity to win. And then also kind of laying the foundation with two young players that are going to be returning next year, we think kind of laying the foundation for our future.
“This is a young football team. Again, wasn’t a whole lot of expectations coming into the season.”
The two young players Franklin referenced were sophomore linebacker Micah Parsons and redshirt sophomore running back Journey Brown, the inarguable stars Saturday at AT&T Stadium.
The former finished with 14 tackles, 2 sacks, 3 tackles for loss and 2 forced fumbles. Brown ran for 202 yards and 2 touchdowns on 16 rushes, averaging 12.6 yards per carry.
The performances were similar in that they were impossible to ignore, and they started early. On the Tigers’ first drive of the game, they attempted a reverse, and Parsons shot through the line to drag the ballcarrier down for a 10-yard loss, in violent fashion. When Penn State got the ball back, on the Nittany Lions’ first rush of the game, Brown punched the ball in the end zone with a 32-yard, stiffarm-filled run that was just as violent as Parsons’ tackle.
“That was the one that I was like ‘oh yeah, it’s time,’ ” Parsons said of his tackle.
“I would say our first run, I just seen it open, how open it was and what the coaches were preaching all week and what they were saying all week, that it actually, when you believe in the coaches, they know what they’re talking about,” Brown said. “So since the first run, I would say, I knew that it was gonna be open all game for us.”
While Parsons and Brown were the highlights, they weren’t the only encouraging young players. The other three running backs, freshmen Noah Cain and Devyn Ford and sophomore Ricky Slade, each had big moments. Though many on the outside have speculated about their futures, pondering the possibility that one of them transfers, each of the four backs said this week they have no plans to do so.
Sophomore wide receiver Jahan Dotson, who might be the No. 1 guy next season, led Penn State with three catches and caught its only receiving touchdown of the game. Sophomore quarterback Sean Clifford didn’t have his best performance, going 11 for 20 for 133 yards a touchdown and an interception, but his entire body of work in 2019 was more solid than that.
The entire offensive line, which bowled over the Tigers defensive front the whole game, will be back next season.
The defense, which will experience more personnel change than the offense, still has young players such as freshman cornerback Marquis Wilson, who sealed the Cotton Bowl win with an interception. Wilson and those of his ilk might not have all been starters, but they showed some flashes. Plus, they’ll still have Parsons. That’s nothing to scoff at.
All of those parts were integral in the Cotton Bowl itself and the 11-2 season, too.
“A lot of people didn’t believe in us this year. Our program believed in us,” said redshirt junior defensive end Shaka Toney, who is still deciding whether or not to return to Penn State in 2020. “Everybody in this building, men, women, trainers, camera people, custodians, everybody believed in everybody.
And we weathered the storm. We had some hiccups in the road, but I don’t think anybody can be mad at an 11-2 team that just won the Cotton Bowl.”
Of course, potential is only potential, and there are still plenty of questions to be answered. There’s no telling if guys such as Dotson or Wilson or safety Jaquan Brisker or some of the other young linebackers will be ready to take on No. 1 roles. Even if they are, it’s unlikely the Nittany Lions will simply roll over opponents next season.
Still, armed with the good feeling from this somewhat surprising year, the Nittany Lions feel good about their team and its direction. And they at least have some idea for what they’d like to accomplish in 2020.
“We’ve gotta win all our games,” Toney said. “We gotta come out 1-0 every single week.”