Dating back to the Pinstripe Bowl, Penn State has now run off an enviable if not mildly remarkable 7-2 string.
That Penn State’s postseason victory over Boston College and its win over Maryland on Saturday were both by a 31-30 margin may just be a coincidence.
Or not.
Both came in pro stadiums, in nationally televised games and went down to the wire against mid-tier Eastern foes that have been traditionally easy markings for the Nittany Lions. (But not in the Sanction Era.)
And oh, yeah…
In both contests, Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg had monster games.
He was 13 of 29 for 315 yards and three scoring passes vs. the Terrapins at M&T Bank Stadium, with eight completions of 20 or more yards. Against BC in the Pinstripe Bowl in Yankee Stadium, he was 34 of 50 for 371 yards, with four TDs.
I’ll do the Hackenmath: Combined, that’s 47 of 79 for 686 yards, seven touchdown passes and a total of 14 completions that went for 15 yards or more. Against Maryland, he had completions of 40, 38, 38, 37, 31, 27, 27, 20 and 17 yards. And against Boston College he had completions of 72, 32, 25, 16 and 15 yards. Old standbys Chris Godwin, DaeSean Hamilton and Geno Lewis caught one TD pass in each game.
All that, and no picks, in either game. In fact, over the past nine games Hackenberg has thrown 256 passes and just two interceptions. Two. In fact, over Penn State’s past five games, Hackenberg has thrown 10 touchdown passes and zero interceptions. Zero.
Be you B1G, FBS or the NFL, those numbers look good. Darn good.
And have made James Franklin very happy.
FRANKLY FRANKLIN
In the media room after the Maryland game while facing a group of 55 or so largely Penn State beat people, Franklin was as genuinely hyped up in a media setting as I’ve seen in his 21 months at Penn State. He talked loud and fast, almost shouting at times. He didn’t measure his words and they spoke volumes. He laughed and joked. He was even funny. He pointed and gesticulated and literally flapped his hands. And for nearly the entire 11 minutes, his right leg never stopped shaking and his right foot barely stopping tapping.
He had won in front of his Penn State family and in front of his old University of Maryland family. And he was as effusive in his praise of Hackenberg as we’ve ever heard:
“He threw balls and put balls in positions where our guys had chances to make plays.”
“Hack did a great job there.”
“I love that Hack has the confidence in those guys.”
Imagine Penn State without Hackenberg over the past two seasons. Franklin has. They’re called night terrors. You saw what happened on the one play poor Trace McSorley was in there on Saturday (with an empty set, God — but not John Donovan — love ’em). Oy. And ouch.
When Franklin has needed Hackenberg to be big – really big — over the past 20 games, the quarterback has been there. In Ireland. In the semi-darkness and full nastiness at the end against Rutgers in 2014. The second half vs. Ohio State, last year and this year. Aerial circuses that needed to emerge against San Diego State and Indiana after being fogged in for earlier games.
Just as important, Hackenberg has come up even bigger in games where he barely had a passing chance. Being reined in at Illinois, pounded at Temple, handcuffed to a couple second-half passes while limping at The Horseshoe, occasionally Saquon Barkleyed out of potentially massively padded stats. The bigness was not in his play, but in his response, his sideline demeanor, his post-game comments.
He stayed at the ready. Even if the head coach and star quarterback will never go for a beer at Pickle’s or hit James’ Man Cave or hold hands and #singKumbaya, they have reached a mutual understanding. An accord. They need each other and, most of all, the team needs them both. Franklin’s goal is to find a way to win and sometimes a Christian needs to understand another man’s religion. Facebook relationship status? It’s complicated.
WINNING CURES ALL ILLS
At 6-2 and 3-1, it seems to be working — a marriage of convenience where the two biggest names on the Penn State campus are friends, if never BFF’s. It is working. Penn State already has more conference wins in 2015 than it did in all of 2014, in half the time. They’ve already equaled last regular season’s output of six victories, with two more very possible if not likely. And who knows what the Whiteout against Michigan will bring?
But it’s not a one-sided relationship, by any stretch of the imagination. Hackenberg is coached in the film room and on the field on a daily basis by Ricky Rahne, who first worked for Franklin at Kansas State in 2006 — which most people seem to forget. Donovan, the offensive coordinator, follows the game outline often suggested and always approved by Franklin.
Christian has been on campus with the Lions for about 120 weeks. The first 30 weeks were with Bill O’Brien, the past 93 with Franklin. What Hackenberg learned with O’Brien is not what he’s learned under Rahne and Donovan and Franklin. Totally different circumstances.
But there are valuable lessons Hackenberg has been taught under Franklin’s watch. Patience, maturity, selflessness, adversity, transitioning, adaptability, game management, sacrifice, thick skin, consistency in inconsistent situations, bro hugs. (Heck, maybe James even taught him how to tie a square knot.)
Not that Hackenberg didn’t have those traits before Jan. 11, 2014, or wasn’t developing them under O’Brien and his quarterback coach, Charlie Fisher (who OB fired, if you recall, after the 2013 season). Circumstances and coaches and personalities have sharpened those skills in Hackenberg’s quiver.
You can bet he’ll need all of them, too, at the next level. (Or, as O’Brien sloganed in 2013, The Next Level.) Yeah, of course, it’s made him a better person. But will they make him a better quarterback in the NFL, too? Likely, but who knows? Hackenberg could go to a crappy team and he’ll need to all the patience and sack reps he accumulated at PSU.
In return, he’s given Franklin 20 starts and 19 finishes and 20 all-out efforts – some of them no so ball-hopping pretty. But he’s been the one constant in Franklin’s reign. And when necessary, he’s usually risen to the challenge.
SIGN HERE
Not that the stages have been all that big since Franklin arrived. The program, admittedly fighting depth and other myriad issues, lacks a signature win over the past two seasons – there’s always the possibility of beating that team from Ann Harbaugh, Michigan. But it’s had some wins that have been bigger than others.
And yes, it has come to that. Rutgers at night on the road, Maryland at M&T, a win over BC in the Bronx two days after Christmas. They’re not signature victories, but they have Franklin’s name on them.
These days, they are important wins. Unlike Army and Buffalo and UMass, they are opponents who can or might have beaten Penn State. Not the “1982 and 1986 Penn States” that Franklin now frequently uses – correctly – as the measuring stick for when Penn State was truly great. But the Penn State now, that’s not so great – but often goes to great efforts (vs. Temple notwithstanding).
A win is a win, is what Franklin essentially said twice on Saturday.
“The most important thing is that we held them to one less point than our offense scored,” he said midway through his post-game presser.
A few minutes later, the second-year head coach added, “We held them to one less point than we got. That’s the goal every week.”
He ain’t kidding. It hasn’t been pretty and it hasn’t always been using Hackenberg’s talents to their fullest. But Hackenberg has gotten much out of it as well. As have the Nittany Lions.
On Saturday, Penn State has a score to settle with Illinois. On a blustery day with an 11 a.m. kick before a paltry crowd of 35,000 last year in Champaign, Tim Beckman’s Illini somehow pulled out a 16-14 victory over Penn State. Part of the reason was that Franklin handcuffed Hackenberg and Donovan. And, as a result, Hackenberg threw for just 93 yards on 8 of 16 passing. It was the worst performance of the quarterback’s 33 games – 33 starts – at Penn State. Instead, Penn State ran the ball on 47 of its 63 plays, averaging just 3.7 yards per carry.
I think we know this: Either Hackenberg or Barkley will have a big day against Illinois this Saturday. We don’t know which one. Maybe no one in Lasch knows, either. But it’s gotten to the point where Franklin is pretty confident it will be one of them, and if it’s Hackenberg then Godwin will be right there with him, too.
“We have to understand,” Franklin said Saturday, talking about his team but also to the media and the Penn State fan base. “We don’t know how many carries you’re going to get. You don’t know how many times the ball is going to be thrown to you. You just have to make plays.”
THE PERCENTAGES AREN’T EASY
Against Maryland, Hackenberg made the plays when he had to, completing just 45% of his passes. So did Bob Shoop’s defense, keeping Maryland from scoring on just 60% of their possessions. Funny thing, but hardly a coincidence. Football birds of a feather, I think: Hack and Shoop do what they have to do when they have to do it.
It. Franklin facilitates it, manages it, recruits it, promotes it, benchmarks it, applauds it and is ultimately responsible for it. Whatever it is – and it varies every week – it is definitely a challenge of a college football lifetime, despite being 6-2 and bowl eligible.
“I sure would like…,” Franklin said breathlessly after the game, literally pausing for emphasis, “…to get a game…that’s a little easier.”
He ain’t the only one.
