Programs getting lots of National exposure. I'm absorbing all of the commentary regarding the matchups and chances. Can't wait till Thursday.
Shabbat Shalom
Shabbat Shalom
Its sure nice being in the final four.
- Thread starter Mr. Potter
- Start date
It is. Once again seeing Penn State in the national championship discussion. Yet there are those still unhappy with Franklin.
It's like a religion. A tough thing to let go of.
As a former coach I can tell you, in the end all a coach can really do is coach. Players play, coaches coach...and, right or wrong, take the lion's share of the blame when things go south.
So true. I've watched football for more than 50 years and have yet to see a coach miss a tackle, miss a block, fumble the football, throw an interception, or get called for holding or pass interference, yet they get blamed. Players make plays. You need talent. You can train a donkey 24/7/365 and it's not going to win the Kentucky Derby. When Franklin's had more talent than his opponent he wins.
I obtained a new found appreciation for coaches when my son played soccer in a YMCA league. One of the guys that was to be a coach of the soccer league cancelled out before the draft and that team got the players no one wanted. So I got asked to coach that team. We had one good player and it wasn't my son. So if he played forward we had no defense. If he played defense, we had no offense. In our final game, I kept rotating players so fast they couldn't make mistakes and we ended up winning 2-1. The YMCA athletic director came over to me and said, "That was the miracle on wood."
Coaches can only prepare and give their players the best chance to make plays. It's up to the players to make those plays.
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Franklin has made incredible strides since 2014. This program was in the *******. Not only is he a great recruiter, he's managed to rally the university to commit to facility improvement, competitive compensation for assistant coaches while serving as a great representative of the university. PSU isn't the easiest place to implement change.
To me, this game is special. Two programs that earnestly try to do things the right way.
JVP would be proud of CJF.
I absolutely believe that.
Penn State is rightfully where they should always be, in the narrative for National Championship contention. For this I give coach Franklin lots of credit for the 2024 season’s success.
As many posters and fans have stated and expected, Penn State is a blue blood program that should always be in the top 10 and periodically part of the National Championship narrative.
Hopefully, we should see fewer of those excuse laden posts about PSU NIL limitations and why PSU fans should lower expectations and dismiss Franklin’s record against the better programs (Ohio State and Michigan).
PSU earned it on the field. They deserve it. Very resilient team. Tough and talented. Can’t count them out even when they’re down. They fight back.
I don’t fully disagree with you, but I also don’t think we can rule out the emphasis a coach has in the heat of the gameday moment. Players feed off of the emotions within a game, and if a HC cannot manage that emotion on the sideline, careless mistakes happen (unsportsmanlike, wasted timeouts, etc). By all accounts, Franklin is very beloved by his players, and he’s a terrific role model for young men, but the subtleties of gameday coaching are seemingly sometimes lost on him in high pressure moments. And those inefficiencies do impact game results, especially when the opponent is able to take advantage of them.
Agreed, till the next game…
In the meantime…
If you truly want to watch the best college game of the year, tune into the FCS championship game tomorrow night
I started watching these games five years ago on a whim and I’ve been hooked ever since. These kids are literally auditioning for a NFL look and they play with passion for the trophy.
This year’s game features Trey Lance’s brother on N. Dakota State. He’s a big wideout.
Agreed, till the next game…
In the meantime…
If you truly want to watch the best college game of the year, tune into the FCS championship game tomorrow night
I started watching these games five years ago on a whim and I’ve been hooked ever since. These kids are literally auditioning for a NFL look and they play with passion for the trophy.
This year’s game features Trey Lance’s brother on N. Dakota State. He’s a big wideout.
Do you always pat someone on the back with a knife in your hand?
Imagine if he mastered the subtleties of coaching....we'd be better than 13-2. LOL
This site has more but(t) fans than a Jennifer Lopez fanclub.
Point taken, but we also might be better than 4-16 vs tosu and meatchicken.
Imagine if he could tell the boosters that I need $25 million for football , and get it! Imagine if he had a guy like that would give a hs qb 10.5 mill for the next 4 years! Imagine if he had a sneaker head with a swoosh tell him “Whatever it costs, I will spare no expense!”
We might. But the fact is they are historically better programs. On the other hand "we" could struggle against Rutgers, Maryland etc. Beating the teams PSU should beat, has them in the final 4. Alabama, Ole Miss,LSU, Miami, Texas A&M to name but a few aren't there because they couldn't beat teams the "experts' said they should.
Do you ever consider changing your handle to “Franklin-Brother-in-law” or “Only-Sunshine-posts-allowed”?
Imagine a PSU football website entertaining "fans" taking thinly veiled shots at a coach that resurrected the program, won 4 NY6 Bowls, 5 top 10 finishes in 9 years, 6 10 or more win seasons in 9 years, a better winning percentage than the programs all time winning percentage and has the team poised to compete in the CFC semi-finals?
You just can't make **** like this up!
But...WE DESERVE BETTER.
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I am always happy to acknowledge that Frankin makes decisions and "calls.' I'll be damned if some don't fail or backfire. I mean he isn't the equal in terms of the "subtleties " of the game like the BWICAC or the gods of sport like the battle tested Paul Finebaum.
It's good some of "us" hold him accountable. Because we deserve better.
There is no period in our history when we were "always in the top ten"
Final AP College Football Polls 1939-2023
Before this year, the entire focus was on OSU and to a lesser extent Michigan. Getting new teams in the Big, playing in the Big Championship Game and making the college football playoff has brought a broader perspective and taken the emphasis off one game. This season wasn’t made or broken by one game. It’s really been enjoyable. This team is good. The program is good. Plus the Beaver Stadium reconstruction. It’s a really exciting time.
I'm very glad we have not seen the deer in headlights version of CJF in the two playoff games
But PSU hasn't really been challenged yet
If we lose, I hope it is not due to a brain fart by CJF or this board will be unvisitable
But PSU hasn't really been challenged yet
If we lose, I hope it is not due to a brain fart by CJF or this board will be unvisitable
if we lose, he'll get blamed if the cause was a lightning strike
When I think of fan(atics) ..It reminds me of Will Roger's poking fun..."all I know is what I read in the papers and that's my alibi for my ignorance. "
6 weeks ago Marcus Freeman was almost run out of South Bend. This past week THEY say Freeman outclassed Kirby Smart. Lincoln Riley won how many Big 12 titles? He went to sleep one night in LA and forgot how to coach football.
Lots of moving parts in a football game and even more in a program.
Is James Franklin the best? Probably not. One of the current 10 best? Absolutely. A great fit at PSU ? It's not even a reasonable debate
Baked beans, sausage and cabbage is a lousy pre- game meal!
Did you even read my post? I specifically used the word “expect” as in expectations. The same expectation and goal that Ohio State and Michigan have. No team is going to be top 10 every year. However, that doesn’t mean the goal can’t be top 10 every year.
Again, the goals of competitors Ohio State and Michigan for the past 50+ years:
1. Beat your top rival.
2. Win the B1G Championship.
3. Win the National Championship.
Do Ohio State and Michigan achieve these goals every year? Of course not. However, they aim high and have built their programs with these high aspirations in mind. There is nothing wrong with that. Penn State should do the same.
I agree, mostly. I always wanted academics to matter, too. But I understand how out of date that goal is today.
It's a mind boggling take at this point...any loss is the coaches fault already. Kirby lost the game against ND. He took that chance before the half and didn't know the rules for the punt team change...all his fault. It's an easy dumb take to make and here it's just accepted that CJF lucks into any win.
What do you think head coaches do? Do you think they're heavily involved in teaching linemen how to block and WRs how to run their routes?
Head coaches are responsible for hiring assistants who do those things. They are responsible for recruiting and fundraising. They're the front man to the media and to the fans. It's the responsibility of the head coach to make sure all of those things work. So yes, you can blame the coach when they don't.
IMO JVP would appreciate the job Franklin has done but he would cry if he saw what college football has become.