Penn State Football: Talent? Coaching? Against Ohio State, It’s Probably a Bit of Both

Penn State has been here before. That’s what will haunt the Nittany Lions for the immediate future and what has haunted them for the better part of the last decade.

Over the last seven meetings —Saturday included — the Penn State/Ohio State series has been decided by an average of just six points. For Penn State, it is an annual exam which highlights a complicated problem to solve but an easy one to understand: the Nittany Lions aren’t far from their Buckeye counterparts but are also still separated by an ocean of key differences. It’s a curse of sorts, knowing what it takes to be Ohio State without being able to do much with that information.

As the six-point margin has often showcased, those final puzzle pieces make all the difference in the world. And as Penn State watched Ohio State rattle off 28 points in the fourth quarter this was made abundantly clear again. It was nothing new, Penn State hanging around just long enough to get a whiff of that coveted victory only for the Buckeyes to flex their muscles and pull out the victory like they had been toying with their food all along. The script is written nearly the same way every season, the spoilers only coming in the form of how close Penn State gets before the inevitable finally happens.

It’s how close Penn State has gotten which truly haunts James Franklin and creates a Rorschach test for his tenure in State College. Are the Nittany Lions talented enough but not well coached? Are they lacking comparable talent to Ohio State and coached up to the point of making this series competitive? Would better facilities lead to better recruits or would better coaching lead to better recruits? Is Ohio State simply so good as a program that it carries with it an inherent ability to get up off the mat and land the knockout blows no matter how the rest of the game has gone? Is Franklin in fact deft enough at the minor details, people management and relationship fostering required for truly top shelf program building that he can ever go from great to elite? Is Penn State never really going to be Ohio State because the Buckeyes’ monopoly on the conference is too big to overcome and Michigan too well positioned to play spoiler?

It depends what you choose to see, but the answer is likely in one shape or another — as James Franklin often says when asked about the steps his program needs to take to get to the next level — all of it.

Because for all of his strengths, Franklin has never given off the aura universally renowned coaches do. There is not the sense that his presence on the sideline provides Penn State with an additional x-factor to consider. That said, as Penn State took the field on Saturday, it did so with a host of new motions, formations and plays put in place for Ohio State and managed nearly 500 yards of offense and 31 points as a result. Defensively, Penn State did about as much as you could have expected the Nittany Lions to do for the first three quarters, holding Ohio State to just 16 points. It was not as though Penn State had played poorly, or had shown up unprepared for the moment. The Nittany Lions arrived to Beaver Stadium with a plan, and that plan nearly worked.

Equally true, as the minutes ticked down and Penn State faced a nine point deficit with just over eight minutes to go, the Nittany Lions’ prospects felt bleak and Franklin’s presence did not provide any added variable which made you anticipate a pending strokes of genius. And while the Nittany Lion coaching staff managed the game aggressively and with success, there was never a sense this was the moment when they would shine or outmaneuver Ohio State’s next move. For better or worse, Franklin does not give off, nor has earned, the impression that he was about to once again wriggle his way through a close situation against a great team with lesser talent at his disposal. The only way Penn State was winning was if Ohio State made a mistake, and Ohio State doesn’t make mistakes.

Which speaks to the other half of the on-field equation. Penn State lost to a team which boasted — among many other things — the former No. 2 running back prospect in the nation, the former No. 4 overall prospect in the nation at defensive end, the probable Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback and a host of high-end receivers. Ohio State was, and continues to be, loaded at every position of consequence as Penn State tried to match that talent with the best it had to offer. In turn, as aforementioned defensive tackle J.T. Tuimoloau brute-forced his way to two interceptions, two sacks and a forced fumble, Penn State had nothing to slow him down, offering up a backup offensive lineman for most of the day in his way. The comparisons could be no more stark than that.

In many respects, this might be all that needs to be said about this series as of late. Whatever Franklin’s shortcomings might be, Penn State eventually loses these games because Ohio State has superior talent in a game dictated by it. Quarterback C.J. Stroud threw passes Penn State fans hope Drew Allar will as Sean Clifford was on the giving end of four turnovers. Running back TreVeyon Henderson scampered for two scores while Penn State freshman counterparts Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen found occasional daylight in the biggest game of their lives. The comparisons of great versus elite were visible all over the field, and a reminder that the Nittany Lions’ losses in 2017 and 2018 the only true instances in which Penn State found itself on equal talent footing, the fact neither game ended with a Nittany Lion victory ultimately a notch against Franklin.

For now, getting over the hump is a task which has infected much of what Penn State does. For all of the wins James Franklin has amassed while at Penn State his losses to Ohio State in 2017, 2018 and now in 2022 bring with them a massive “what if?” that overshadows the rest of it. Having routinely been in winnable games against the Buckeyes for the better part of his time at Penn State, the fact the Nittany Lions have failed to do so — picking up their only win in improbable fashion — only accentuates the confusion this series can create. On the one hand Penn State is coming up just short, on the other hand Penn State is coming up just short more than everyone else. Can you be well coached and still lose? Perhaps. Can you be talented and still not talented enough? It would appear so. Can you be talented and could be coached better? It would seem likely.

Away from the field, Penn State will look to athletic director Patrick Kraft to steer a ship that desperately needs to decide how much it is truly in on the college football arms race and what that decision means for football and the rest of the department. A school steeped in tradition trying to decide how hip, flashy and financially aggressive it wants to be as it follows up a pivotal touchdown with Neil Diamond blaring from the stadium sounds system.

All told, it leaves Penn State treading water trying to find answers, hoping that next time it knocks on the door of opportunity it finally opens the whole this way time, instead of just three quarters. Whether it’s coaching or talent that opens the door remains to be seen, but it’ll probably need to be both if the Buckeyes continue to be the standard.