James Franklin addresses Penn State's national perception

Recently Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin sat down with one of his former players Adam Breneman, host of Up Next. The former Penn State tight end picked his former head coach’s brain on many topics surrounding the program. Towards the end of their conversation, Breneman had Franklin address the national perception of the Penn State program.

“Well, I think it depends on who you’re talking to. I think the people that covered Penn State and really understood what Penn State went through, those people, I think, totally get it,” said Franklin. “Because they’re keeping it in perspective. The program wasn’t even supposed to be anywhere near this for 10 years. So I’m very proud of that, and the people that I talk to are very aware.

When Franklin took over in 2014 for Bill O’Brien, who left to pursue a head coaching position with the Houston Texans, Penn State was still in the wake of former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky’s child sex abuse scandal which broke in 2011. Major penalties were levied on the program, including the team vacating all their wins from 1988 to 2011, along with the statue of legendary head coach Joe Paterno being moved from outside the stadium.

Still, Franklin was able to help continue to turn around the program getting Penn State into the Big Ten championship game in 2016. The Nittany Lions would beat the Wisconsin Badgers, capturing the conference crown, but it would be leapfrogged by Ohio State for a position in the College Football Playoff field that year. And it’s instances like that that Franklin believes fans look at when it comes to being critical of the program.

“I think what happens is when you’ve been as close as we have — we win the Big Ten Championship in 2016 don’t get into the playoff, Ohio State does — when you’ve been as close as we have been, I get it. People are like, okay, you got it back. Now take the next step. Well, that’s harder than people realize, especially when you don’t have the alignment that we just got done discussing.

“I tell people all time if you’re outside of the top 25 and you’re trying to get in the top 25, that’s hard. When you get inside the top 25, and you’re trying to get inside the top 15, that’s hard. Those are big jumps. But when you get into the top 10, that jump from the top ten into the top four is much wider than those other jumps are. So, when you’re scratching and clawing, and the margin of error is so small, all those things add up. And that alignment is critical.”

As Franklin pointed out, getting in and staying in the field of four for the College Football Playoff is an arduous task to complete. Still, it is a task that he, the players, and the fans of the program would love to see achieved, especially at the end of the season. And if Franklin can lead Penn State to the College Football Playoff in 2023, he can uplift the perception around the program.