It’s Monday of the first week of Penn State football’s season. It means that in less than a week the Nittany Lions will be 1-0 or 0-1, days from opening their home slate, less than two weeks from the first White Out in two years.
It will mean a lot of things.
The Monday of Week 1 is like the opening credits of a Spielberg movie. The music is blaring as a gang of adventurous kids listen to the rattle of baseball cards on the spokes of their bikes, riding just a little too fast through the neighborhood, adults shaking their heads as they fly on by.
“There those kids go again.”
Like all great opening scenes, something is about to happen. Maybe our roving band stumbles across an abandoned building, a strange box in the woods, maybe an alien spacecraft crashes into a field as the sun sets. And that’s when the fun begins.
The question for Penn State football as its opening credits roll, is what happens next.
In truth the answers are about as varied as they get. This team might be halfway decent or it might be a reflection of its 0-5 start in 2020. It could turn out to be quite good under new offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich. It might turn out that quarterback Sean Clifford’s horrific 2020 was a sign of things to come and his outstanding 2019 was an outlier.
It could turn out that the defense is okay, but not great. It could turn out that Brent Pry’s unit has slightly lost its touched without a main and obvious star at linebacker and questions on the defensive front.
This is not – at first glance – a 2017 team destined to chase down playoff talk. That doesn’t mean it’s fighting for its life either, but your guess is as good as mine ahead of a difficult schedule with a team not short on difficult questions needing to be answered. [Officially I’d set the over/under at 8.5 wins]
So all told the best thing that could happen might be a whole lot of nothing.
Having success is a blessing and curse if you’re James Franklin. On the one hand you’re never too far from where you want to go, on the other hand you’re never quite close enough to grasp it. But given the right collection of talent and fortunate bounces, suddenly you’re in the conversation.
They are worse things than being *right there* because being *right there* means it won’t take much to get over the hump. Especially in a world that could see the playoffs expanded to 12 teams.
For the story of Penn State’s 2021 team, staying *right there* could be the best result. Effectively, having nothing to write about could be the best case for the Nittany Lions. The perfect bowl of porridge. They’re not too hot, not too cold. They’re just right, just good enough to hold the line after a year of falling far below it.
Of course that’s not what they’re aiming for. Everyone will tell you this season is about playoffs and Big Ten titles and bowl games and all that fancy stuff that comes with success. In truth though in his heart of hearts James Franklin is going to be happy if this team can get from Point A to Point B in one piece. Forget all the COVID concerns, just get to nine wins, head to a bowl and let a stacked 2022 class enter the program.
Because in many respects how good Sean Clifford is or isn’t won’t have much to do with the future of the program if he leaves for the NFL Draft. Clifford just has to be good enough, his receivers just have to be good enough, his offensive line just has to be good enough, his running backs just have to stay healthy.
None of this should be misconstrued as saying this season is already decided and written off. The 2016 season wasn’t on anyone’s radar either, and what Saquon Barkley would become wasn’t a forgone conclusion the day he stood on campus. Every great team has its first game.
But when it comes to the longevity of the Franklin Era, the success Penn State can have in the future and the sort of success it wants to have down the road – simply being unremarkable in 2021 and maintaining the status quo could go a long way.
Because sometimes the kids don’t find anything in the woods, they just get home safe and prepare for tomorrow’s adventure.
And there are worse things than that.
