Urban Meyer: 'Penn State is an elite place'
Urban Meyer believes this season is of great importance for Penn State coach James Franklin. The Nittany Lions are just 11-11 over the past two seasons, including a disappointing 7-6 finish this past year that saw them go 2-6 over their final eight games.
On “Urban’s Take with Tim May“, a national college football show from On3, the former Ohio State and Florida coach addressed the expectations at Penn State and why 2022 will mean so much for Franklin.
“Sean Clifford got hurt last year and their production went way down,” Meyer said. “They were 5-0 at one point, ranked in the top five in America and then they kind of fell hard. So this is a big year for Penn State and coach Franklin. They’re 11-11 the past 22 games. Think about that for a minute. But he’s done a really good job. Before that, they won the Big Ten Championship in ’16 I believe. Penn State is an elite place — not a good place. That’s a top 10 place.”
Penn State football’s history includes two national titles and five conference championships. With 909 victories across the history of the program, the Nittany Lions are the eighth winningest program in all of college football. Nearly half of those victories came under coach Joe Paterno, who has claimed the most wins in FBS history (409).
Franklin has been the head coach at Penn State since 2014, amassing 67-34 overall record during that span. That includes three 11-win seasons, one Big Ten Championship and victories in both the Fiesta Bowl and Cotton Bowl.
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While Urban Meyer has respect for what Franklin has built at Penn State, he also knows how quickly things can go sour after a few bad seasons at such a prestigious program. The Nittany Lions enter this year with a healthy Clifford at quarterback and also brought in former Miami coach Manny Diaz as the defensive coordinator.
With that in mind, Penn State will look to surpass its preseason expectations this year. The Nittany Lions were picked behind Ohio State and Michigan in the preseason Big Ten media poll, but certainly have enough talent to emerge as a contender for the conference crown.
Penn State is scheduled to kick off the 2022 season on the road against Purdue at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday.