Depends on your expectations I suppose. If 7-5 is good for you, then I guess so. Personally, I think last year's 4-5 was a failure and if they go 7-5 this year I believe that is also a failure, and Franklin enters the hot seat for 2022.
7-5...would that be a good season this year?
- Thread starter Psugo823
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I thought we would be 7 and 5 or 8 and 4. Given the holes in the roster, 7 and 5 isn't horrible given the strength of the east.
I‘m happy to have a few very good games left in the season. Frankly, I think we win out.
Preseason I would have said it was disappointing.
After hitting #4 I'd say its a failure, even with the Clifford injury.
I'll be disappointed if they don't have one win between Michigan and MSU after the effort they put into OSU. Good chance MSU is playing for a playoff spot against us even if they lose to OSU the week before. A little retribution, and maybe a 4 hour rain delay, after 2017 and 2018 would be nice.
After hitting #4 I'd say its a failure, even with the Clifford injury.
I'll be disappointed if they don't have one win between Michigan and MSU after the effort they put into OSU. Good chance MSU is playing for a playoff spot against us even if they lose to OSU the week before. A little retribution, and maybe a 4 hour rain delay, after 2017 and 2018 would be nice.
I think the question in the title is ridiculous. I challenge you to find one post on this board where someone described being 7-5 as good for this season.
You do realize who the OP is right? And the "agenda" he has? It's tiresome.
We've had an incredibly difficult schedule. At the same time, we sustained injuries at the three weakest areas: RG, QB and DT. Our running game has underperformed. The defense has played well enough to win every game. D Backfield is outstanding.
The only real surprise has been our inexcusable loss to Ill. We really do need to win out to reach pre-season expectations. MSU has exceeded anyone's expectations. UM is what we all thought UM to be. If we win out, I am happy given the circumstances. If we lose one game it is a disappointing season. If we lose two or more it is a poor result, IMHO. (for the second year in a row)
The only real surprise has been our inexcusable loss to Ill. We really do need to win out to reach pre-season expectations. MSU has exceeded anyone's expectations. UM is what we all thought UM to be. If we win out, I am happy given the circumstances. If we lose one game it is a disappointing season. If we lose two or more it is a poor result, IMHO. (for the second year in a row)
I hope you're right, but it's hard to see even Maryland as a gimme at this point.
That said, if the intensity is there, then count Maryland and Rutgers as wins. I also like our chances against Michigan at home. Michigan State on the road...much tougher ask.
On the other hand, if the air has gone out of the emotional balloon as seemed to happen last year after Indiana, things could get pretty ugly.
Regardless of what happens, Franklin will not be on the hot seat. The question is whether he'll be moving on to another job at the end of the year...and I think the answer is yes.
Mustipher was really the one defender that PSU could not lose. There simply is no replacement for his ability as a run stopper. I'm afraid Brisker and Brown will wear down and both MI and MSU will just gash this defense for 300 yards on the ground. On offense, I'm surprised that none of the RBs have stepped up to be the main back. I guess Lee comes the closest but can't hang on to the ball. Preseason, I was hoping for 9-3 so 7-5 would be a disappointment, but if they can get to 8-4, requiring a win against MI or MSU, I'd call that a success.
8-4 is not success. Again, the most common predictions were 9-3.
On the run game, three comments:
- all three RBs have been hurt or unavailable at some point so far this year
- Defenses are attacking our RG position, where we lost the guy who looked like he was going to start. That just kills our inside running game
- With no QB run option in the RPO, the RPO is meaningless. So our running game has been stripped of its greatest weapon (or primary weapon depending upon how you view the RPO). The idea is to key on a player, often the DE, and just take what he gives you. Any decent DE simply ignore the QB-Run option and hits the RB
- Lovett isn't good at blitz blocking, limiting what can be done in the pass game when he's in the backfield.
You are what your record says you are
No any season PSU loses a few games is a failure.Any season you do not make the playoffs or are not in the running late in the season is a failure.If you want to be elite you have to play like it
Hopefully the biggest lesson this season is you better have a backup qb who is ready to play. Lastly losing to Illinois is never a good thing
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Personally, I think that is naieve. Cincy, for example, is a perfect case in point. I believe we'd beat them and are a mid tier B1G East team. You can't tell me the schedule has nothing to do with it. Second, injuries are part of the game but are really an issue when it comes to W/L record. In the end, I agree, it is what it is. But looking beyond that, it is more complex. If you want to be a casual fan, yep. But if you want to be something more, you need to understand cause and effect.
NO! How could we be happy with a team that has had a worse record than we endured during sanctions?
4-5 in 2020
7-5 in 2021
Who would ever think 11-10 over two years would be considered "good" at PSU? O'Brien was 15-9 in his two seasons following the sanctions. Franklin's first two seasons were 14-12 nut I give him a pass due to carryover impact of sanctions.
7-5 would be more tolerable if we were playing a lot of young promising kids that should break out in 2022 but I don't think that's the case. Our biggest impact players (Clifford, Mustipher, Dotson, Ebiketie, Brooks, Luketta, Fields, Brisker, Stout) are all gone after this year. There's a lot of optimism surrounding players like Allar & Singleton but they will be true freshmen. Another 7-5 season could be ahead.
The sanctions are an overwrought excuse for Franklin's performance his first two years. The fact that we had the worst coached offense in American under Donovan was THE issue, not the sanctions whose impact were fairly minor.
It matters not about the preseason prognosticators because we beat Wisky on the road and Auburn at home. When we were 5 and 0 all the pre-season guesstimates went out the window. We should have been undefeated going into OSU game. Now we should be 7-1 worse case basis. 7-5 then would be a failure. However if we finish now 7-5 it is a terrible season. A failure. We have to go at least 3-1 or 4-0 to salvage this season.
Maybe but we're long past that now. The point is the last two years aren't any better than the first two sanction years and next year looks to be a rebuilding year. That's a very poor result for a team with PSU's facilities, fan base, and coaches salaries.
I would say no for a team with experience across the board.
If the coaches had managed and coached as they should have, we would be 7-1.
If the coaches had managed and coached as they should have, we would be 7-1.
True but losing to Illinois is totally unacceptable especially at home! That is the game that is blowing everything up including the bowl they end up in.
Imagine Cartman at the front of a class as tenured professor and 4 d00ce bags in UM and Rutgers gear there, and wally the Maryland turtle and 1978 Magic Johnson he's giggling the loudest all smoked out before class, as prof. Cartman tells SandHusky jokes that arent even good for Middle School and these 4 clowns are all laughing like it's Times Rite. No, then you would have to say no, anything less than 10-3 and a ChumbaWumba'ing at all cost in the bowl game too is not good. Too many 1-4 round draft picks for this team to be less than 11-2, actually, but we'll go with 10-3 🍁🍁🍁 Canadien Bat Signal Up - you arent on te Dr Pepper Playoff Reel but you can still Dont Let The Michigan Hyenas Win Again
One of the most asinine questions ever posted on this site.
A 7-5 record would be a TOTAL embarrassment and easily one of the five most disappointing seasons of ANY CFB team in the USA in 2021.
A 7-5 record would be a TOTAL embarrassment and easily one of the five most disappointing seasons of ANY CFB team in the USA in 2021.
So the preseason prognosticators didn't know we were playing Wisconsin on the road and Auburn at home before they made their predictions? Those wins looked good until it turned out that neither team was very good when we beat them.
You want it both ways. You Franklin haters want to jump all over him when we lose to Iowa and Illinois and you have the nerve to use wins over Wisconsin and Auburn as reasons why we shouldn't have lost those games. I can't remember - who was our coach when we won those games?
There's no defense for losing to Illinois. That's on Franklin. Iowa isn't very good but if we don't lose Clifford that's an easy win. I think everyone knew we weren't beating OSU.
You don’t know what you are talking about when you call me a Franklin hater. I am a big supporter of him as well as my brother who knew him when he was at Maryland and also in Coaching circles. It is quite simple: We had a 2 game stretch where the coaching staff let us down. That’s all I am saying. No excuse not to have our backup ready to play in a noisy environment at Iowa. That’s on the coaches. However, not having backup QB to be able/ ready to play in limited sets given SC’s condition was the worse miscalculation of all. I loved the OSU game but for some player mistakes we could have won that game. A big coaching error was giving OSU a short field on that 4 Th down play.
So will 7-5 be a failure of a season: Yes
Based upon who we lost to and how!!!
finally in my opinion a 7-5 season record falls after back to back poor seasons.
believe me: I am not a Franklin Hater but even his biggest supporters have to shake their head over the last 4 weeks.
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We have several major problems on this team, how major is based on who we play any given week. The bigger problem is the fact is that our main issues take years, not weeks to address given the limitations of our coaching staff. Bottom line, we have too many round pegs in square holes at key positions (5 Tech End, 3 Tech Tackle, Will) on defense and a coach that has proven time and again he is incapable of adjusting the defense he inherited to match the talent on hand. If he were, we would have moved from a rigid 4-3 to a 3-4 back in 2018.
Same thing on the offensive side of the ball. Every linemen currently playing was recruiting and coached to play in a predominantly man blocking scheme with some simple gap concepts (blocking scheme was the same man/gap hybrid JoeMo used at Fordham). They moved to a pure zone last year and now to a gap scheme with a lot of nuances. The line in general is on its third very different scheme in as many years and the interior talent to not suited to gap blocking. We are not fixing this before 2023.
Just for kicks and giggles
Since CJF has been here through last year.
Ohio State 82 wins
Wisconsin 67 wins
Penn State 60 wins
Iowa 60 wins
Michigan - 54 wins
MSU - 52 wins
Northwestern 51 wins
Minny - 51 wins
Nebraska - 40 wins
Indiana - 25 wins
Maryland - 34 wins
Purdue - 33 wins
Illinois - 28 wins
Rutgers - 24 wins
I could add up the losses, but suffice to say Ohio State has the least. Rutgers has the most.
So in the BIG East, the best team leads the second best team by 22 wins, while in the Big West, the best team leads the second best team by 7 wins. Quite a disparity.
Since CJF has been here through last year.
Ohio State 82 wins
Wisconsin 67 wins
Penn State 60 wins
Iowa 60 wins
Michigan - 54 wins
MSU - 52 wins
Northwestern 51 wins
Minny - 51 wins
Nebraska - 40 wins
Indiana - 25 wins
Maryland - 34 wins
Purdue - 33 wins
Illinois - 28 wins
Rutgers - 24 wins
I could add up the losses, but suffice to say Ohio State has the least. Rutgers has the most.
So in the BIG East, the best team leads the second best team by 22 wins, while in the Big West, the best team leads the second best team by 7 wins. Quite a disparity.
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