THE STORY LINE
The best moment of Penn State’s first night game might come at halftime. Members of the
1994 team will be in town to commemorate the
25th anniversary of Penn State’s last undefeated season, when they went 12-0, won the
Rose Bowl and lost out on a national title to
Nebraska.
(But there was that New York Times national championship).
In 1994, Penn State coach James Franklin was a senior quarterback at East Stroudsburg, where he threw for a then-record 2,586 yards and 14 touchdowns. Franklin said this week that he was aware of Penn State’s 1994 team then but is more impressed with its achievements now.
“After being a head coach in the SEC and being a head coach in the Big Ten, I think what they did is very impressive," Franklin said. “It’s also interesting because there’s a lot of discussions about national championships, and I think we’ve got some pretty good arguments over our history about national championships. I’m not sure how that necessarily works. Some people can decide their national championships and put it up and others can’t, but I think we’ve got some pretty good arguments.”
Franklin invited the returning players to practice, hoping they might share some of the program’s legacy with current members of the team. Time certainly strains the ties; no one on Penn State’s roster even was born when the 1994 team went undefeated. Last December, former quarterbacks Trace McSorley and Kerry Collins met in New York, bridging past and present.
Franklin wants to do more of that this weekend.
“The ’90s does not seem that long ago to me, but to our players it does,” Franklin said. “And I think also for our players, part of their education is not only what they learn in the classroom at Penn State and this community and through their football experience, but also the historical impact of Penn State football. They’re a part of that now.”