As program-devastating as it seemed at the time, Penn State is in the Rose Bowl and leading USC by 7. On the other hand, 5 years after Petrino’s firing, Arkansas hangs on to mediocrity, uncertain of where it’s going.
Just saying. Oh, I know Penn State isn’t in the mighty SEC. And I know it’s in a better recruiting locale. Other excuses will be raised and made. Still, the contrast in program direction is pretty stark.
I like James Franklin as a coach.
I also didn’t realize Tee Martin is OC for Southern Cal. He’s pretty good.
My thoughts as well. And then the “character” difference when the SC player was down, and the Penn State guys kneeled around him praying for him, as opposed to our player “spitting” on the opponent. I don’t know if “I” or “we” can ever live that down. What makes that hurt so much is that our player was looked up to in so many ways. My support for the hog program is really wavering when I see turnarounds like Penn State and our wallowing in mediocrity.
Not sure why you’re so surly about it. There’s a reason that about 15 teams are blue bloods and have survived lots of scandals and sanctions and are still standing.
Call it excuses if you would like. I would call it a fact.
There are very few programs with our profile who have become consistent, huge winners.
And, they have ended up typically getting knocked back down by the NCAA. I expect it to happen with OM next.
But, go ahead and be unnecessarily snarky. It’s productive.
Pennsylvania has just under 13 million people. It’s long been considered one of the top high-school football states. Pitt isn’t on the same level as Penn State. Unlike Arkansas, which starts out with a huge recruiting disadvantage, Penn State has a huge recruiting advantage.
"There are very few programs with our profile who have become consistent, huge winners.
“And, they have ended up typically getting knocked back down by the NCAA. I expect it to happen with OM next.”
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Well, darn. I was just starting to feel pretty good about things. I’d read Jeff Long’s tweet that the sky is not falling. And now you have to tell me this – that our “profile” is the problem. Guess I’ll have to go back to bring surly, snarky, or whatever.
Call it profile. Call it demographics. Call is status. Call it whatever smart aleck phrase you want to call it.
But, if you think we start off on the same playing field as Alabama, LSU, FSU, Oh St, Mich, Penn St., also call it delusional.
I’m not saying we can’t overcome it. I’m not saying we shouldn’t try. I’m not saying we should “accept mediocrity”. I’m not saying the sky is falling.
I’m saying it’s a difficult task and it will take a lot of hard work and good fortune.
But, comparing our rebuild to a blue blood that can stay within 150 miles of campus and land a top 15 class-with or without the scandal–is apples and oranges.
You call that excuse-making. I call it realization of the tough(er) task at hand.
I’d also point out that Franklin’s seat was a lot hotter than Bielema’s is now when he righted the ship after the Week 2 loss to Pitt. He was another couple of losses from collecting his big buyout.
All true. We can do it with hard work and good fortune, but mostly good fortune. If we have a magical season, and win a NC, our recruiting will follow. We cannot recruit at a top-10 level without a national championship.
Exactly. The stars have to line up for us. Just as they lined up in 1964, when we survived early tests, stayed healthy, got the defense nailed down and gave up seven points total in the last six games. Some of those stars include better-than-usual in-state talent that we keep at home, getting lucky with injuries, and coaching up some 3-stars, from in and out of state, to play like 5-stars.
Not only does Penn State dominate a state with 11 million residents, but they are also the main program in the northeast US, which has a whole lot more than 11 million people. A look at the PSU roster shows a lot of PA kids, but also New Jersey, Maryland and Ohio, plus a few from Georgia, Florida, California and even one from Tuscaloosa.
I remember some national writers saying Penn State would never come back from this
And once again, to me its not all about W-L…its about how we lose…if we had gone toe to toe with VT and got beat at the end id be cool…how we lost is embarrassing
The fact that the entire year lapsed and we still game after game made the same key mistakes is embarrassing
The fact that our coaches have that “lost” look on their faces when adversity hits is embarrassing
We dont have the players or the dynamics to ever mount a comeback like USC did last night…in fact someone on twitter listed all the games under BB (starting with Rutgers) where we led at key moments in the game (halftime, end of 3rd quarter) and lost…and i cant remember any games in his era where we came from a deficit to win…the losses such as against Texas A&M after having big leads are becoming the norm…actually that has been the norm for awhile
Yes, the point is that in spite of the fact it could have been a program wrecker – much, much worse in degree than the Petrino incident – the Sandusky incident appears to have been well managed from a football operations standpoint. Yes, PSU has some advantages Arkansas doesn’t. But to come back within 5 years and play in a game like that last night is pretty remarkable. The planning, vision, and execution must have been very good. Yes, it was touch and go with Franklin for a bit, but he did well. The point is that, during a similar time frame, Arkansas has not handled adversity of a much lesser magnitude as well, on the field anyway.
When you look at what Dabo has done at Clemson, it gives me hope that Arkansas can do the same thing if they catch lightning in a bottle with the right coach. I’m not saying CBB isn’t the right coach, nor am I saying Dabo could have had the same level of success at Arkansas. I think Clemson is in a better overall recruiting area than Arkansas. But I remember Dabo being mentioned as a candidate for Arkansas and people didn’t like that idea. I also remember how down Clemson was before he started coaching. He’s a coach that has a clear “brand” and a very clear “process”. I may even pull for them to win the NC because I think he actually tries to have fun and wants his players to have fun.
Not sure who to root for in the championship game. Like Dabo and Clemson and wouldn’t mind Alabama losing. But then that would mean the SEC went 6-7 in postseason play. Torn.
Speculation/opinion big time. I disagree, no way Penn St was going to fire JF(born, raised , schooled in Pennsylvania ) after the crap they had been thru and his history at Vandy. Your opinion vs mine, but that is all it is.
There were PSU fans jumping off the Franklin bandwagon rapidly after its 39-point loss to Michigan. Those same fans were clambering back on when the Lions beat Ohio State and won the B10 title game.
Just like all coaches, James Franklin is a bad loss or two away from hysterical fans screaming for his head or the heads of his coaches or the head of of AD.
franklin has been nothing BUT impressive to most of us for a long time
there is no comparison between the ditchgate scenario and the Penn state pedophilia scandal
not in the offense
and
not in the effect it should have had on school or program
no one really cared about BP in the ditch except for the espn jokes and the people in arkansas.
the Penn State scandal rocked the country; it scared children. horrific.
and crashed the program
we were returning a top 10 team.
clearly a system wide football program failure occurred the next season : essentially this was selfimposed.
just not nearly as big a “scandal”… i mean you dont go to jail for that…
population ?
blue blood ?
i would take nothing away from PSU… simply amazing return to relevance and even prominence in such a short length of time.
hats off and bravo to their leadership and to coach franklin.
yes i think its significant that we are still trending downward after a markedly less impactful scandal.
it is significant and relevant to compare the two ADministrations;
maybe we can have our AD travel to happy valley for some tips