Turn back the clock to Oct. 1, 2016 and Penn State is getting booed off the field against Minnesota on a dreary afternoon at Beaver Stadium. Up to this point the James Franklin era had left a lot to be desired, quite possibly headed toward its finish before it ever really got started. As a team the Nittany Lions were – fine – still limping from NCAA sanctions but also struggling to find an identity which lent itself to a reliable and consistent winning formula.
Simply put, things were not going all that well and a blowout loss to Michigan the week earlier in Ann Arbor had done little to change that perception.
But an hour or so after those boos rang out, Penn State made some plays, tied the game and eventually won 29-26 in overtime, Saquon Barkley scampering into the end zone as he quickly became a household name. It was an ugly win, but the Nittany Lions found a way to make the most out of what they had, deciding that losing was not a thing that was going to happen today, willing that to fruition in spite of their own shortcomings.
“This was a game that we can really grow from,” Franklin said at the time. “There are a lot of things, obviously, that we have to get cleaned up but the most important thing is that these guys believe in themselves and believe in what we’re doing and how we’re doing it so that was big. They’re having a great time in the locker room. I wish I could take you guys in this locker room right now because it is awesome. They are partying.”
Fast forward to Oct. 28, 2023 and the comparisons might not be one-to-one, but in the early stages of Penn State’s 33-24 win over Indiana there were boos. A frustrated groan of disappointment rang through Beaver Stadium as the Nittany Lions followed up an uninspiring offensive effort against Ohio State the week prior with an equally poor early output against a much worse team. It’s one thing to look bad against a top-five team, but against one with just two wins?
But much like in 2016, Penn State turned boos into cheers, KeAndre Lambert-Smith hauling in a 57-yard touchdown pass from Drew Allar with 1:46 to go in regulation to take a 31-24 lead. The boos, the belief, the play, the win.
“I’m really proud of our guys for battling and our resilience,” Franklin said on Saturday. “They found a way to get a win and found a way to make plays at critical moments.”
What happens next is anyone’s guess, Penn State is hoping that, much like 2016, it can put its less inspiring performances in the rearview mirror and focus on what lies ahead — mainly a date with Michigan in two weeks. The Nittany Lions are not likely in need of a spiritual reinvention to beat Maryland, Rutgers and Michigan State, but an extra bit of belief might go a long way toward beating the Wolverines. If nothing else, it might go a long way toward getting anyone to believe that they can.
That’s sort of the strange thing Penn State has created for itself this year. It might have been different had it lost to Ohio State to a more conventional 30-27 score. Then you just say that the Nittany Lions have to play a bit better and they might win the next big game. But in the wake of converting a signal third-down attempt against the Buckeyes, getting fans — and maybe even players — to buy into a Michigan upset may have been a bridge too far. In a strange way, Penn State and James Franklin might manage to find victory in turning an upcoming date with Michigan into a more traditional affair. Fans can probably stomach a competitive game against a national title favorite a lot more than they can stomach 60 minutes of offensive ineptitude. A story for a later time.
“We were doing good things,” Penn State quarterback Drew Allar said on Saturday. “And nobody’s more frustrated than us when we can’t win or when we can’t get things going because of how much time and effort we put into the game plan each week … I think it gives us confidence as a whole team really just because of the resiliency and the adversity that we faced.”
“This week kind of tested us and showed how good of a team we are to bounce back from last week,” running back Nick Singleton said. “And that obviously shows what we can do moving forward.”
Which is where belief comes in. This Penn State team is not, by any stretch of the imagination, overwhelmingly sexy and finds itself too far into the season to suddenly redefine itself. If the 2016 iteration of Penn State football had anything going for it, it was the time it had to reinvent the wheel. Now in 2023, the late stages of October are not the best time to switch to the wishbone, but for an offensive group that is ostensibly not lacking talent, backed by a defense that is going to send plenty of players to the NFL in a few months, it’s not outrageous to think it can catch lightning in a bottle like it did in 2016. Sometimes it just takes a moment to turn doubt into belief, to turn a poorly timed career-first interception into the biggest pass of a collegiate career so far.
It may turn out that all of this is just be a nice way to polish up an offense and a team that is better than 95% of its schedule but not anywhere near where it needs to be to beat Michigan and Ohio State. Michigan rolling into State College and winning by 21 isn’t a tough prediction to sell. Equally true, Penn State legitimately almost lost to a very bad team, a few good plays don’t erase more than a few problems.
Then again, the same could be said in 2016, and who saw that coming? All that team needed was a little bit of belief found on the precipice of a new low. Maybe that’s all this team needs too. This Penn State team is hoping that’s the case.
“This win means so much because of the adversity that we hit last week and the kind of game that we fell into last week,” Penn State tight end Mike Gesicki said in 2016. “We took that energy, and came out this week determined to win. We didn’t show a lot in the first half, and then in the second half we made a comeback. To make this type of come back, and win this football game was unreal with our back against the wall.”
