James Franklin stood in the center of the locker room. He wanted to address the elephant in the room. By this point, his team was aware that Michigan had upset Ohio State. Everybody was talking about it; that with a win over Maryland, Penn State was headed to Indianapolis for the Big Ten Championship. What once appeared improbable was, suddenly, in reach.
Franklin kept his message simple: “Maryland, Maryland, Maryland, Maryland. Maryland, Maryland, Maryland, Maryland.” He wanted to leave no doubts.
That meant keeping the starters in for the entirety of the third quarter. That meant scoring with the backups as regulation expired. That meant dominating the Terrapins, 44-7. Franklin was happy. His smile was genuine. He beamed as he embraced his family. Finally, after 10 years, Franklin had completed a regular season with everything still ahead of him.
“It’s hard. Especially with the expansion of these conferences, this is the most competitive the Big Ten has ever been,” Franklin said postgame. “And to have your team ready to play week in and week out, it is very, very difficult to do, and it doesn’t happen very often. And you look around college football, watch the highlights, it’s not happening.”
The coaching staff has stressed the same message since the preseason. It didn’t change ahead of the season opener. It didn’t change after a loss to the Buckeyes. It didn’t change after the Nittany Lions’ cellphones buzzed with a notification of the Wolverines’ upset win. It all came back to the 1-0 mentality and controlling the controllable.
In an ambiguous year when powerhouse programs have lost to inferior opponents almost weekly, Penn State has, more or less, escaped unscathed. Even with a loss to Ohio State, the Nittany Lions are headed to the Big Ten title game. And even if they fall to Oregon in Indianapolis, they’re all but guaranteed a spot, and potentially a home game, in the College Football Playoff.
“A lot of teams don’t have the 1-0 mentality,” safety Jaylen Reed said. “I think that 1-0 mentality that we got here at Penn State, I think that’s a real thing, just focusing on the next game. I’m pretty sure with Ohio State and Michigan, everybody in the world probably thought Ohio State was going to win.”
The next contest brings high stakes, the pressure of which isn’t likely to compress a team with nothing to lose. It’ll mark Penn State’s first conference championship game since 2016. And it’ll be played against the No. 1-ranked Oregon Ducks, an unbeaten machine which will enter Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday as the clear favorite to win the national title.
In some ways, the Nittany Lions are just happy to be there. They’re underdogs who haven’t wavered in the face of adversity. And by some wave of a magic wand, they’re set to play for a trophy that seemed so unobtainable that Franklin had already cancelled Sunday’s practice. Bad news for Penn State: Practice is back on.
“It literally means everything,” defensive tackle Dvon J-Thomas said. “I literally came back for sixth year for this specific reason: to win big games like this, to be in big games like this, to be in big moments like this. This doesn’t happen for a lot of teams. So it’s just truly a pleasure and an honor to be representing Penn State in a Big Ten Championship.”
In other ways, this was always the expectation. This is a team that has been so close to breaking into the elite threshold of college football for the latter half of a decade. But for those in the blue and white jerseys who suit up to play, this is a team that’s already there. There’s nothing in their minds that can’t be won.
“I believe that Penn State has the opportunity, has the talent, has the people, has the personnel to be the best team in the country, to win a national championship,” J-Thomas said.
