Listening to Phil this morning going through PA schools that Penn State has been "frozen out of" = WPIAL schools and St Joe Prep to name a few was interesting. I have heard people say we are to PA as OSU football is to Ohio when it comes to recruiting. If that were true why would we be frozen out of recruiting these schools? UC Bearcats made the CFB playoff this year, not OSU, yet OSU can go anywhere it wants in Ohio. They may loose an Ohio kid to a national program, but can get players from any school. In fact, if there is a 5* player in Cincy, OSU probably gets them before UC. What is the root of PSU being frozen out of schools? If we are the best opportunity for any player, why would the "school" freeze us out? We are the national power program in the state evidenced by our recruiting for several decades. Not living in PA, so maybe something not seeing. It also seems like we have gotten top players from several parts of the state, so is the idea of being frozen out just urban legend?
Penn State football is to PA as tOSU football is to Ohio?
- Thread starter blion72
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Not sure, but one thing obvious to me is that Penn State, more than any other state flagship program, receives unfathomable negative coverage from local and regional media. It's as though the media is rooting for them to fail. And this pre-dates the Sandusky stuff. It's been going on since at least the 1970's. What negative effect that has had on in state recruiting is questionable, but it almost certainly doesn't help.
What schools does Phil think PSU is frozen out of? St. Joe’s Prep has great players every year, and yes, many go elsewhere, but that doesn’t mean PSU is frozen out of there. John Reid was SJP. Swift was supposedly high on PSU, but PSU had Barkley and Sanders already in the fold so he looked elsewhere if I remember correctly. It worked out for all parties. The QB that went to OSU last year supposedly did not like the PSU offensive philosophy so he looked elsewhere and Harrison’s kid followed along. Totter’s kid was a bit of an enigma. Landed at Clemson, but had very few other top offers. However, supposedly PSU still has a good relationship with the Trotters and is still in the mix for the younger brother. The WPIAL hasn’t been as dominant in recent years, but PSU has landed it’s fair share of guys from there since Franklin took over. Sanders, Wade, Porter Jr, Brisker, Brown, Dinkins, JB Nelson, Zuriah Fisher, etc. They can’t and won’t land every top recruit from each area, but Franklin and Co. have also cleaned up pretty well in DMV and reached into FL and TX recently as well as beginning to reestablish some connections in OH that had dried up in years past. Allar and Saunders were top rated recruits in OH. Franklin can be criticized for many things, but I don’t think recruiting is one of them.
Very true. In Ohio, most people are indoctrinated from a young age to think OSU is their one and only. Not so in PA regarding Penn State.
Such different dynamics in each state. Both schools can count on loyalty from the suburban and rural communities within their borders. What O$U has that PSU doesn't is the advantage of being situated in an urban setting, which means they're also attractive to inner city recruits.
PSU has always had a Philly and Pittsburgh problem to some degree.
PSU has always had a Philly and Pittsburgh problem to some degree.
People in Ohio are indoctrinated from birth to believe O$U is the only choice for all things college athletic. In PA it's just not the same single minded obsession for PSU. You come to be a PSU fan because it's either part of your family or you grew up with it organically. People in Ohio have an unhealthy obsession with O$U sports that makes them look like cultists
Well, to their defense, most years OSU is the only pro football team in the state.
In earlier years, as others pointed out, PSU was not the only "Beast of the East". You always had the schools who preferred Pitt in the West and even Syracuse for that matter, since they were an Eastern powerhouse for many years. In the Eastern part of the state, you had the Notre Dame fanatics because of the Catholic high schools and larger Catholic populations in the coal regions and Northeast, (see Ron Powlus and company). PSU really didn't have a state-wide footprint until the Rip Engle years and especially under the Paterno years, which makes us later to the party unlike other flagship schools in other states.
I would say Penn State wrestling is to Pa as Ohio State football is to Ohio.
I know a lot of Ohio people and most, not all will tell you OSU Football is the biggest thing in the state, never going to be the case in PA with PSU.
Bengals in Super Bowl and Bearcats in CFB Playoffs. tOSU FB sitting home.
This is so true when i worked at Michael Baker in Harrisburg. Michael Baker was on the BOT at this time, yet, so many piss ant people working for Baker and the media found every excuse to contempt or disrespect the Peen State football team.
A lot of great posts here. I’ve never seen another program get so much negative coverage from its own media than PSU. I don’t want or expect PSU media to be cheerleaders and i hate when CJF starts out his PC thanking the media for “their support of penn state football “ , that’s not what they’re there for. But there’s been so many media members who go out of their way to promote negativity towards the program
I lived in Ohio back in the late 90s when John Cooper was coach and even back then OSU football was king - nothing even remotely close to it. Keep in mind, Cooper had some decent years but nothing like the last 10 to 15 years at OSU so I can't even imagine what it's like now.
Speaking of PA state media hatred for PSU football- The great '94 team didn't even get all the UPI votes in the state... The Pittsburgh-area writers voted for Nebraska. (I will never forgive them for that!)
Add to that, Beano Cook was lobbying for Nebraska. At one point I remember him saying that he never switched his vote once he cast a vote for a Number 1 team unless they were to lose. After the Michigan game he voted Penn State #1. Following our blowout of Ohio State he switched his vote to Nebraska and lead the charge in Pittsburgh for Nebraska. He was called out on this by a caller on Stan Savran's talk show and he denied it. They hung up on the caller. Stan later reviewed the tapes and this exposed Beano's lie. At least Savran later apologized to the caller.
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