Two years ago, almost to the day, James Franklin promised he would make Penn State football whole again.
In fact, he promised “we will get this fixed” nine times. (Read it here.)
He meant it. He just didn’t how hard it would really be.
He said it on Sept. 27, 2014.
It was a few minutes after the Nittany Lions lost 29-6 to Northwestern in Beaver Stadium, when Christian Hackenberg threw a pick-six as a Beaver Stadium Homecoming crowd saw Franklin lose his first game as Penn State’s head coach.
Penn State had started the year in fine fashion, winning its season-opener in a Dublin Guinness gulper against Central Florida, then sandwiched a night-time 13-10 comeback at Rutgers – buttressed by five interceptions by PSU – between easy wins over Akron and UMass.
Franklin was a hearty 4-0 and Hack was averaging 327 yards per game passing. Penn State was ranked No. 27 in the weekly Associated Poll – a Sanction Era high-water mark (then as well as now). Easy peasy.
As it turns out, it was a bit of fool’s gold.
GROUND CONTROL
The Nittany Lions tumbled slowly to earth the next four games, losing to Northwestern, Michigan (a very respectable 18-13 in the Big House), Ohio State (a beyond respectable 31-24 in OT) and Maryland (a disheartening 20-19 after leading until 51 seconds were left in the game).
Since that 4-0 start, Penn State has been 12-14. The wins have come over Indiana (twice), Temple (twice), Boston College, Buffalo, Rutgers, San Diego State, Army, Maryland, Illinois and Kent State. Teams that in the season they’ve played Penn State were a combined 57-76 (.428). Only two of that dozen – BC and San Diego State – finished the year with winning records.
One would be hard-pressed to say that Franklin has “fixed” Penn State, at least on the field. Even he would not say that’s not true.
Off it, he has done a good job recruiting. He’s ushered through the expensive and expansive renovation of Lasch Building and Holuba Hall. He’s brought analytics and a talented and wide-ranging support staff to Penn State. And his players have performed very well in the community, on campus and in the classroom.
On the field, though? Not so much.
This is not to point out how poorly Penn State has played. Instead, it is to note that even Franklin himself didn’t realize how big the rebuilding job was.
He’s gone from #107k, Twittermania, dominating the state (I know, I know: he meant recruiting), blowing up balloons, taking helicopter rides, eschewing QB Club, doing cartwheels out of bed and never discussing injuries to somewhere much more moderate.
He’s become less like The James From The Previous Institution and more simply, simply CJF. Much less hype, more humble.
The lesson learned and now teaching, with vigor: The job of restoring Penn State requires the patience of Job, James, Sandy, Eric and Joe (Fan).
PENN STATE FAM FAN
Franklin’s message these days is second-youngest team in the nation and the rare eclipse that is three injured veteran starting LBs – problems he did not foresee 33 months and $12.5 million ago. But he also preaches to and about the Penn State family.
“That’s one of the reasons I was so attracted to coming to Penn State,” he said during his radio program Thursday night, “and still feel so great about being here, the priority and emphasis on educating our players and making sure they are prepared to be successful people in life – and winning. In that order.
He also said: “But we should also take a lot of pride and I know our fans do…that if any other program had been through what we’ve been through, they wouldn’t have survived. To be honest with you, it’s a testament to how special this place this.”
Winning still counts. A lot. It took a 12-14 run and a loss to Pitt where his players came out unprepared to hammer it home.
The reconstruction job is bigger than the quick fix that James thought it would be 735 days ago, the day of that Northwestern loss. That’s his message. And he’s sold it well. (Not that it’s not true, but it’s a far cry from the “pulling the rope in the same direction” from Jan. 11, 2014, and the 9x “we’ll get ’er done” from Sept. 27, 2014.)
Still, overall, Penn State’s 31-23 record (.574) under Bill O’Brien and Franklin has been better than most folks would have expected back in November 2011 or July 2012. In fact, compared to the Penn State Dark Ages of 26-33 (.440) from 2000-2004, it’s pretty damn good.
(Of course, lest we forget that from 2005 through to the day he was fired, Joe Paterno was on a hellacious run of 66-20 (.767) that included seasons of 11-1, 9-4, 9-4, 11-2, 11-2, 7-6 and 8-1.)
And there remains the fact that despite defections by many top players, O’Brien was 5-4 against the Big Ten’s elite – Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Wisconsin — while against the same group Franklin is 0-9. He needs a signature win, an upset, a substantial bone to throw to all the Doubting Thomases in the Lion’s Den. Putting his name on a “W” against Minnesota and then Maryland may be more than big enough. For now, anyway.
“I get it. I embrace it. I take it for what it is, and I think our players do, as well,” Franklin said on Tuesday, when I asked him if Penn State fans should just R-E-L-A-X. “So yeah, I want everybody to take a deep breath. We’re going to continue loving these kids. We’re going to continue supporting these kids. We’re going to continue developing these kids, and I believe in my 22 years of experience that we’re heading in the right direction and good things are going to happen if people let the process play out.”
FAREWELL TO ARMS (AND HAND)
It has been a tough journey. It has cost Franklin three assistant coaches and friends from the Vandy glory years who he jettisoned and/or they abandoned him – Bob Shoop, Herb Hand and John Donovan. And it cost him 14 losses, among them winnable games against Maryland (2014) and Illinois (2014) and Northwestern (2015) and Pitt (2016).
Two years ago, Fix-It Franklin promised everything was going to be OK. And it still may be. A new offense; a more conservatively-verbal Penn State-Way modulated approach to public utterances and social media prouncements; and success off the field are all key things in Franklin’s favor.
But, now, Penn State is on a cold streak. Six losses in its last eight games, seven in its last 11, a combined 212-91 losing margin to Pitt, Michigan (twice), Ohio State and Michigan State over the past 11 games, oh-for-three with healthy starting linebackers.
Things will not be fixed in time for Saturday’s game against Minnesota. After all, BBell and Nyeem and Cabinda are still out. And, as veteran Reading Eagle scribe Rich Scarcella so clinically wrote this week, that even with Saquon Barkley, “Here are the cold, hard numbers: Through four games, the Nittany Lions rank 122nd (out of 127 teams) in the nation in rushing with a meager 101.3 yards a game and 112th in total offense with 338.5 yards a game.”
So, problems remain.
NIETZSCHE OR NITSCHKE?
Still, the faithful in Beaver Stadium will number over #100k on Saturday. Which ain’t bad at all. And, should the Nittany Lions defeat Minnesota, it will boost their record against the pesky Gophers to 6-4 since 1999.
And that game just brings the chills. Penn State entered that contest undefeated and ranked No. 2 in the nation. But they lost that day on a successful fourth-and-16 by Minnesota that was followed by a game-winning field goal by Dan Nyland. Penn State lost the next three games, Jerry Sandusky retired, and a never-seen-before tailspin under Paterno ensued.
Now, 18 years later, a Penn State victory over Minnesota would be met with more gratitude, more appreciation, more humility. By Penn State’s fans, its players and its head coach.
Times change. People change. Programs change.
As Nietzsche – and maybe Nitschke as well – once said, “That which does not kill us makes us strong.”
