7-5...would that be a good season this year?

[Jerry]

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.

Well, at this point 8-4 looks pretty good.

At noon on October 9, ranked in the top-5 with an unbeaten record, the thought of 8-4 did not look good at all. And 7-5 would have been the stuff of nightmares. Yet here we are.

Injuries killed us, but as the saying goes: excuses are like assholes...everyone's got one...

 

[Wallace Breen]

Well, at this point 8-4 looks pretty good.

At noon on October 9, ranked in the top-5 with an unbeaten record, the thought of 8-4 did not look good at all. And 7-5 would have been the stuff of nightmares. Yet here we are.

Injuries killed us, but as the saying goes: excuses are like assholes...everyone's got one...

That morning, 8 and 4 looked entirely realistic to the keen observer. The reality is we were luckier than the good the first three weeks of the year. The weaknesses we have now, are the same as October 9th. Furthermore, fixing them requires a multi-year effort and cannot be corrected over the course of the season.

 

[Jerry]

That morning, 8 and 4 looked entirely realistic to the keen observer. The reality is we were luckier than the good the first three weeks of the year. The weaknesses we have now, are the same as October 9th. Furthermore, fixing them requires a multi-year effort and cannot be corrected over the course of the season.

Gotta disagree with you. There was nothing "lucky" about those wins versus Wisconsin and Auburn.

 

[wilbury]

Why wasn’t Auburn good?

I think they are much better now versus when we played them. We got them at the perfect time - they had played absolutely nobody and hadn't experience any adversity and were on the road at our whiteout.

 

[ILLINOISLION]

Well, most teams improve through the year.

Most but not all. (Auburn certainly has!)

 

[WV Bruno]

I think you will upset MSU.

 

[Mufasa94]

I think they are much better now versus when we played them. We got them at the perfect time - they had played absolutely nobody and hadn't experience any adversity and were on the road at our whiteout.

I agree the timing worked out in PSU’s favor, but Auburn having not had to face adversity doesn’t necessarily mean they weren’t good.

They had absolutely zero struggles in their easy 2 opening games. That is where I question the not very good description for at that time.

 

[Psugo823]

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.

They aren't suited to blocking, period. Scheme is an excuse. They are soft and they have BEEN soft for 8 damn years.

 

[fastlax16]

Gotta disagree with you. There was nothing "lucky" about those wins versus Wisconsin and Auburn.

Franklin sucks every time they lose. Every decent win is simply luck, flukey or due to good timing. No fan base tears down recent accomplishments while overstating accomplishments of bygone eras like this one.

 

[Psugo823]

Well, at this point 8-4 looks pretty good.

At noon on October 9, ranked in the top-5 with an unbeaten record, the thought of 8-4 did not look good at all. And 7-5 would have been the stuff of nightmares. Yet here we are.

Injuries killed us, but as the saying goes: excuses are like assholes...everyone's got one...

Bump...lolololololololololol

 

[Psugo823]

Who had 7-5 when the season began? Lmao...don't all rush to raise your hands at once.

 

[jbenedict]

Absolutely not

 

[Texas Lion]

For those that picked 8-4 or 7-5 it was because you thought they would either lose to wiscy or auburn.

I picked 11-1 with a loss to ohio state and that’s what it would be had Cliff not gone down.
I had us beating Iowa 38-10 and was on my way to that when the injury happened.
I then had us beating Illinois 13-10 cause I thought Cliff wasn’t playing. Dumb me I guess.

 

[Psugo823]

Absolutely not

Nothing funny about that.

 

[Psugo823]

Bump. This one is going to age, just about perfectly this Saturday...

I almost can't wait for the coach worship crew to fall all over themselves and try to rewrite their original story for what would pass as a successful season when 2021 began...it should be delicious.

 

[Psugo823]

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.

7-5 sucks. This is Penn State not Purdue.

 

[YYZ86]

No. Can't believe it is even a question.

 

[Psugo823]

No. Can't believe it is even a question.

It isn't. These apologist franklin worshippers on here are lobbying that it is. Lol, their leader Marshall, who vacated the board after the Illinois embarrassment, had 9-3 and its going to be downright comedy when he walks it back to 7-5.

 

[BiochemPSU]

7-5 to 9-3 is going to be the norm until PSU develops a big time QB or finds the next Saquon. Having a strong defense is great, but the game is all offense. PSU doesn’t have the horses to go beyond it’s current record.

 

[Media Fan]

Imo, they should have beaten Iowa, Illinois, and Mich.. I think they should be 10-1.

 

[YYZ86]

Imo, they should have beaten Iowa, Illinois, and Mich.. I think they should be 10-1.

Probably, but they probably should have lost to Wisconsin.

 

[McCloudersportLion]

Win vs Mich St = Cirtuisback Bowl at #18ish vs #12ish Ole Miss A&M. Win that👉Top 15

Loss vs Sparty= Duke's mayo bowl and Pitt troll holiday season for snoredown vs Virginia

Still a whole lotta Target marbles to play for kidts

 

[Psugo823]

Win vs Mich St = Cirtuisback Bowl at #18ish vs #12ish Ole Miss A&M. Win that👉Top 15

Loss vs Sparty= Duke's mayo bowl and Pitt troll holiday season for snoredown vs Virginia

Still a whole lotta Target marbles to play for kidts

No marbles to play for. 7-5.

 

[Cpeplion]

For those that picked 8-4 or 7-5 it was because you thought they would either lose to wiscy or auburn.

I picked 11-1 with a loss to ohio state and that’s what it would be had Cliff not gone down.
I had us beating Iowa 38-10 and was on my way to that when the injury happened.
I then had us beating Illinois 13-10 cause I thought Cliff wasn’t playing. Dumb me I guess.

No way they would have been 11-1 even with a healthy Clifford. They have 0 running game whatsoever…nothing…zilch…zip. You don’t go 11-1 that way

 

[Texas Lion]

No way they would have been 11-1 even with a healthy Clifford. They have 0 running game whatsoever…nothing…zilch…zip. You don’t go 11-1 that way

They beat Iowa with Clifford and more than likely beat Illinois 2 weeks later if he were healthy. Michigan might be iffy and they still lose to the Buttflies, but what if our running game was Clifford. What if the threat of him running opened up some lanes for everyone else? Once Clifford got hurt the Defense against us was simple.....GO and GO HARD.

 

[Woodpecker]

Lovett isn't good at blitz blocking, limiting what can be done in the pass game when he's in the backfield.

Don't forget that he can't catch either.

 

[ShoreLion85]

This season is a complete failure - all 3 of the success metrics for PSU football were not accomplished. We lost to Ohio State. We lost to Michigan. We will not win the Big Ten championship. Those are the only 3 success metrics, and we failed at each one. 7-5? 8-4 (hopefully)? Please - absolute 100% on-field failure Is how 2021 will be remembered for PSU footbal.

 

[HartfordLlion]

Year in and year out the expectation should be 2-3 losses MAX. We have routinely 2nd,3rd best recruiting class in the B10. If you can put that type of talent in a position to win THAT IS ON THE COACHES. Period.

 

[bvillebaron]

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.

No sense in playing the MSU game since you have it all figured out huh? Let me guess, you also had the Lions losing to Rutgers.

 

[Psugo823]

No sense in playing the MSU game since you have it all figured out huh? Let me guess, you also had the Lions losing to Rutgers.

See you on this thread about 7pm Saturday lmao...

 

[Cpeplion]

They beat Iowa with Clifford and more than likely beat Illinois 2 weeks later if he were healthy. Michigan might be iffy and they still lose to the Buttflies, but what if our running game was Clifford. What if the threat of him running opened up some lanes for everyone else? Once Clifford got hurt the Defense against us was simple.....GO and GO HARD.

I’ll give you Iowa, they were going to get curb-stomped, and probably Illinois. (That was a complete coaching debacle). But they weren’t beating OSU or Michigan with no running game and Franklin has proven he can lay massive eggs vs MSU. This coaching staff is always going to have 1 loss to OSU, 1-2 losses vs MSU or UM, and 1 other complete coaching catastrophe every year.

 

[Cpeplion]

This season is a complete failure - all 3 of the success metrics for PSU football were not accomplished. We lost to Ohio State. We lost to Michigan. We will not win the Big Ten championship. Those are the only 3 success metrics, and we failed at each one. 7-5? 8-4 (hopefully)? Please - absolute 100% on-field failure Is how 2021 will be remembered for PSU footbal.

But apparently it’s worth 80 million to those in charge.

 

[Texas Lion]

I’ll give you Iowa, they were going to get curb-stomped, and probably Illinois. (That was a complete coaching debacle). But they weren’t beating OSU or Michigan with no running game and Franklin has proven he can lay massive eggs vs MSU. This coaching staff is always going to have 1 loss to OSU, 1-2 losses vs MSU or UM, and 1 other complete coaching catastrophe every year.

agree to disagree....A healthy Clifford beats Michigan as well. As does a healthy Mustipher.

 

[ILLINOISLION]

agree to disagree....A healthy Clifford beats Michigan as well. As does a healthy Mustipher.

What’s truly amazing in all these discussions about our injuries is that ALL our opponents are assumed to be 100% healthy and have no injuries at all that just might have impacted their performance vs. PSU! 😂

 

[Texas Lion]

What’s truly amazing in all these discussions about our injuries is that ALL our opponents are assumed to be 100% healthy and have no injuries at all that just might have impacted their performance vs. PSU! 😂

Did Michigan have their starting QB at about 50% and not have their soon to be All American DL and team captain?

and the sad thing is I don't know you but I think you could have done better than Roberson at Iowa. He sucked so bad he has been MIA ever since.

 

[Psugo823]

What’s truly amazing in all these discussions about our injuries is that ALL our opponents are assumed to be 100% healthy and have no injuries at all that just might have impacted their performance vs. PSU! 😂

BUMP LOL

 

[NittanyIllinois]

What’s truly amazing in all these discussions about our injuries is that ALL our opponents are assumed to be 100% healthy and have no injuries at all that just might have impacted their performance vs. PSU! 😂

Haha, exactly.

It's like people forgot that Michigan didn't have Ronnie Bell and Blake Corum, or that Wisconsin was without its best defensive player. And so on.

That will be the running excuse this offseason, just as COVID was for last year.