Technically, the NCAA’s on-the-field sanctions against Penn State ended Saturday at 6:55 p.m.
That coincided with the conclusion of Penn State’s regular-season-ending 34-10 loss to Michigan State in Beaver Stadium.
Penn State will resume bowling and has its scholarships back.
But the impact of the sanctions has an expiration date still a couple of years in the future.
So, it seemed like it was only 140 characters into the new era when the public’s impatience with that timetable, exhibited repeatedly throughout the Nittany Lions’ 6-6 regular season, manifested itself in Saturday’s post-game press conference.
The Sanction Error was gone for about 20 minutes. Gone and forgotten.
“What,” Penn State coach James Franklin was asked, “is it going to take to narrow the gap against a team like Michigan State?”
A team like Sparty has been 32-8 over the past five Big Ten seasons (while PSU was 22-18), and is just one bowl victory away from his fourth 11-win season in five seasons. This Sparty was 13-1 and ranked No. 3 in the nation last season after beating Stanford in the Rose Bowl. And it’s the same Sparty that is 10-2 overall and 7-1 in the Big Ten in 2014.
This is the Sparty coached by Mark Dantonio, now in his eighth season in East Lansing. The same Dantiono who took over after Sparty had just two winning records in the seven seasons that separated Dantonio and the guy who was three head coaches ago. Guy by the name of Nick Saban.
The short answer to that MSU-PSU gap question would be, “Everything.”
TO BE FRANKLIN WITH YOU
The long answer, which Franklin gave after we almost saw our first glimpse of a short Franklin fuse, follows.
“Yeah, um,” Franklin replied as he sat at the dais beside his two young daughters, over 100 media members on the ground floor of the Beaver Stadium media room and dozens of recruits and their families peeking down from the second-floor balcony.
Franklin paused. His two seconds of silence seemed longer. “You know,” he said, working to keep his composure, which he did. Another pause.
“Guys,” Franklin said, gritting his teeth and starting slowly, “we’ve been on sanctions for three years. And Michigan State’s been recruiting and building their program for a long time. “They’ve done a nice job with it. It’s one of the better programs. They have more scholarships than we do. We’re going to have an opportunity to get that back. And that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to close the gap by developing the players we have. We have great players and good kids here. And we’re going to recruit for the future.”
Another pause by Franklin, who added: “It is what it is.”
Then he repeated, essentially, the same message he delivered in the same room to many of the same people 46 weeks before, in his first press conference, on Jan. 11, 2014. And said with increasing frequency as a very wearing 2-6 closing stretch of the season wore on.
“There is no one more passionate about getting those things fixed as quickly as we possibly can,” Franklin said. “But there’s a difference right now.”
As if on cue, came the next – and final – question of Franklin’s 12th regular-season post-game conference of 2014. (Saturday’s presser lasted just 7 minutes and 46 seconds; the one Jan. 11 went 52:29.) The question was legit, about the dwindling depth at linebacker. Nittany Lion veteran Ben Kline never played a down in 2014. Second-year ’backer Brandon Bell missed the past two games. And freshman Jason Cabinda, who played well in his first-ever start last week against Illinois, missed Saturday’s game.
“We didn’t have Cabinda this week. Next man up,” Franklin said. “That was the situation we’re in. We talk about numbers and scholarships and things like that. Every time we have an injury it causes problems for us. Having to move (redshirt sophomore) Gary Wooten to Mike (middle) linebacker and Mike Hull to the outside, we felt like that was the best opportunity for us.”
Wooten was the 16th Nittany Lion to make his first career start in 2014 – 11 on offense and five on defense. That’s a lot of next-man-upping.
RECRUITS AND REINFORCEMENTS
Help is soon on its way. Franklin had a full class of recruits in February. Now, scholarships are back at the 25 per year and 85 overall levels as of the National Letter of Intent Day on Feb. 4, 2015. So while the on-the-field sanctions are now gone, it’s folly to think that Franklin can restock Penn State’s shelves in any reasonably manageable manner, even if he brings in another class of 25 recruits. You know by now that the Lions were already the second-youngest team in major college football. You want young? Try 25 plus 25 at ages 18 and 19.
The loss to Michigan State was a line of demarcation. Whatever bowl game Penn State appears in is being played in the present (Dec. 27, in the case of the Pinstripe), a reward of sorts for the upperclassmen who endured the past. But it’s the future that has Franklin all jazzed. Even after losing all four home Big Ten games this season. Or, perhaps, because of.
The upcoming bowl game represents a fork in the road. And Franklin, lovin’ ’em all the same, but truly bonded to the freshmen – witness their weekly rap sessions — is approaching the next month with renewed enthusiasm. Penn State gets 15 practices between now and the bowl game. It’s a key development tool Penn State was without in 2012 and 2013.
“It does help in the locker room a little bit that it’s not completely over,” he said on Saturday. “We still do have another game to play, another game to prepare for, another opportunity to be together as a family. We have a lot of work to do, obviously, so I’m looking forward to that time. It won’t be just working with the travel squad, it will be working with everybody, guys who have been redshirted. I look forward to that as well.
“The practices are not just designed to go against your opponent. We’ll do good on good against each other. A lot of the guys who were on scout team will have the opportunity to do a lot of work. We’ll do some scrimmage situations with those guys as well. We’ll do a lot of things from a fundamentals standpoint. Obviously, having the indoor facility is very, very helpful as well. We’ll take time for all of it.”
It’s time that the NCAA took, then gave back. If things had gone per the NCAA’s original plan, it’s a certainty that Bill O’Brien wouldn’t be at Penn State. And Franklin likely as well.
So, now the Nittany Lions are 6-6, in a 16-way tie for No. 67 out of 125 FBS teams. Also at 6-6: Miami (Fla.), Pitt, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia Tech. Good company, and as middle of the pack as you can get. Only part of the NCAA’s mission, seemingly to plummet Penn State to No. 126, was complete.
With an average of 101,623 fans, Penn State is ranked fourth in overall home attendance in 2014. That’s 100 people behind LSU and 89 above Alabama. Good company. Penn State State was 21-15 over the past three regular seasons. (Michigan was 20-18.)
IN IT: 32 OF 36
As Penn State’s depth dwindled and its coaching staffs rotated, the Nittany Lions were still in 32 of the 36 games game they played since Sept. 1, 2012. Remarkable, given all that was happening off the field and in the courts, as well as on the roster. Remarkable player leadership.
Eight of Penn State’s 15 losses were by a touchdown or less. Three were by two touchdowns or less. Then there were the final, fatal four – at Indiana (a 20-point loss) and at Ohio State (49) in 2013, and against Northwestern (23) and Michigan State (17) in 2014. Even at that, Penn State led Indiana 14-13 in the third quarter, trailed Northwestern 14-6 in the third quarter and were within 13-3 vs. Sparty at the half. An opening kickoff return by MSU for a TD and an end zone interception thrown by PSU was the only real difference for 30 minutes vs. Michigan State.
There are victories and losses still to come in the courts. But in myriad fashions then and now, Penn State has already defeated the NCAA.
And given its errors of omission, commission and unjust decision with Penn State alone, saving itself may be a mission impossible for the NCAA.
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