Did the James Franklin Era really begin, for all No. 1 intents and #WeAre…Better purposes, on Saturday night?
Was that 31-24 loss a seminal moment for Penn State football?
Was it a true register of the changing of the guard (actually, the center, who moved to tackle, who moved to the other tackle)?
In defeat did Franklin finally get fans to stop looking back and start looking ahead beyond the latest recruiting rankings?
Did his players focus on what is possible with a bevy of first- and second-year players instead of the troubles caused by the unseen yet devastating deadly rip tides of the NCAA sanctions?
Was Christian Hackenberg’s leader- ship, in a players-only meeting, in getting OC John Donovan to remain on the sidelines, on yet another big-time final drive, evidence that he has embraced his role in every way possible?
Or was it just a close loss?
NO MORE QUESTIONS: ANSWERS
Even though it was a loss and the offense was MIA for three quarters, perhaps Saturday night’s game could possibly be the ultimate WhiteOut for the past three years.
Because, after all, 2014 was supposed to be the worst sanction season. And Ohio State the worst game of that worst season.
That O’Brien’s Lions took the field in 2012 was likely the biggest victory of them all, and the 4OT victory over Michigan and the back-to-back upsets of Wisconsin surely were landmarks of OB’s tenure. Had he stayed and the team won eight or more games in 2014, the 31-24 victory over Wisconsin — with four Hackenberg TD passes — to end the 2013 season might have been the turnaround game.
But he didn’t. And it wasn’t.
However, Saturday’s night game may have been. May have. We’ll have to see.
The Nittany Lions entered the contest against visiting Ohio State a 14.5-point underdog, with a bad nutty taste of Buckeye blowout in their mouths.
They were led by Franklin, who got Penn State off to a 4-0 start, followed by two losses. That’s when Franklin started talking of heightened expectations at Penn State, folks not knowing or caring the playing field ramifications of happened the past few years, and a roster that featured 46 scholarship players who actually saw the field.
A funny thing happened on the away to low expectations. The Nittany Lions may have lost to Ohio State, 63-14, last season, but 2014 was a different matter. Almost exactly a year later, they nearly doubled the points they scored against the Buckeyes – Zetteling for nothing less — and come Hull or high water, cut in half the points the Buckeyes scored. And that’s despite refs who signed off on an interception that wasn’t and a clock reading 0:00 that was.
The paradigm has possibly shifted. Franklin said it would take about three years to totally get settled, to figure things out, for Penn State to truly not only get back on track but to be a Top 25 fixture.
He fixed it all right. At least for one night.
AN OHIO STATE STATE OF MIND
If the Nittany Lions can come to within a second overtime of beating Ohio State, Urban Meyer, an 18-game Big Ten Conference unbeaten streak, seven on-the-field officials and one officially inept replay booth ref, they can certainly beat Maryland next week. Right?
Tell to hell with the 46 scholarships, some fans will say. Who needs 64? Or 75, yet alone 85? Frankly (but not Franklin) speaking, other than Michigan State, who is there left that Penn State can’t defeat? There’s Maryland, Indiana, Temple and Illinois. After or even before the Ohio State game, there was the potential of winning each or maybe every game. The Spartans are another story. Now, Penn State’s read that book against Ohio State and beat the bookies.
No matter that Penn State trailed the Buckeyes 17-0 at the half or that through three quarters the Nittany Lion offense had all of 89 yards on 36 plays — an average of 2.472 yards per play. That’s not even three yards and a cloud of dust, especially when two running backs and one wide receiver combined for 21 yards on 12 carries. And let’s not forget the forgettable Hackenberg stat line through 45 minutes: 13 of 22 passes for 81 yards, with two picks and two sacks.
Beat Ohio State with an O like that? More like Oh, Brother.
Didn’t matter. Hackenberg led the Nittany Lions on an epic 19-play last-minute drive that covered 77 yards and led to Sam Kicken’s 31-yard field goal to send the game into overtime.
A STORY ABOUT, UH, HUMMINGBIRDS
I once read that a hummingbird has an attention span of about nine seconds – which, the article said, was longer than that of an average college student. I told my class of above-average college students that statistic, made it into a PowerPoint, put it on the screen, joked about it and then made it a bonus question.
I can’t remember how many got it right. But my point is this: Given that college football fans – especially the 22,000 that absolutely dominated Beaver Stadium the other night – probably can’t remember Saturday’s halftime score, their takeaway from the game is that Penn State almost, could’ve, should’ve beaten Ohio State if the zebras weren’t free-ranging on the Kentucky bluegrass of Beaver Stadium. And maybe Penn State is back. As in last-time-in-the Top 25 was on Oct. 2, 2010, back. (When No. 22 Penn State lost at No. 17 Iowa, 24-3.)
Franklin will have to invent new ways to keep Penn State fans’ expectation to a reasonable roar, difficult against the din of helicopter blades. (I say show the offensive stat sheet, sans Hack’s Big Drive, when he was responsible for every positive yard.)
Franklin has gone with many true freshmen, most noticeably wide receivers Chris Godwin and Saeed Blacknall, who have supplanted Geno Lewis; safety Marcus Allen, who had 11 tackles and two pass break-ups on his way to Wally Pipping Ryan Keiser; and Grant Haley, a special special teams player.
That’s only for starters. Literally. Franklin is playing them now, plus some others like tight end Mike Gesicki, not only for their presence but for Penn State’s future.
PATERNO’S MIAMI SURPRISE
You could make the case, like my friend Scott The Attorney has, that it’s a bit like what Joe Paterno did in 1967, early in his second season as a head coach. Two games into that campaign, he was 5-6 and folks were already wondering if he was really the right choice to succeed Rip Engle – as if 16 years of success as Rip’s right-hand man should have left any doubt.
So, on the hot seat, Paterno played it cool. Miami in Florida on an early-September Friday night was next on the schedule. Paterno kept his players in air conditioning until they took the field against the Hurricanes, a physiological and psychological ploy. Much more importantly, he decided to die and live by his younger players, playing a host of sophomores in their first season of varsity eligibility.
Penn State beat Miami 17-8 that night, but fell the next week to No. 3 UCLA, 17-15, in Beaver Stadium.
But the die had been cast. Penn State won its next seven games, tied Florida State, 17-17, in the Gator Bowl and then reeled off 23 more victories to complete an historic 31-game unbeaten streak. Paterno’s status as a legend started to bloom and Penn State started to gain national respect.
PROVERBS AND THE KING JAMES VERSION
Right now, there’s no comparison. Let’s not forget: Referees or not, Penn State lost. But the way the game was played, with an against-all-odds, never-say-die mentality, surely makes folks think differently about Penn State.
And that may begin with the players. “For as he thinks in his heart,” it says in Proverbs, “so is he.”
As James Franklin himself says, “We’re close.”
Great Expectations. It may now be a Dickens of a time to get folks thinking otherwise. Damn Buckeyes.
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