He didn't save jack $hit. He actually downgraded the program and made it twice as hard for Franklin. He didn't recruit a single offensive lineman and if he would have done simply SOMETHING, Barkley could have had a decent offensive line in front of him.
yeah....he was really hamstrung by sanctions and opted for offer other positions than OL.
When you have no offensive line running a straight drop back passing game with an immobile WB isn’t the wisest choice.
Not much you can do in that situation post Sandusky with a one-way transfer portal and scholarship reduction. And yes, he was instrumental in saving the program.
And we were crippled at the LOS due to unwarranted sanctions.
You said it. For all those in the O’Brien is a genius camp, read em and weep. His coaching career should have ended 5 minutes after this game.
I was responding to the comment regarding “Flo.” If I misunderstood or was mistaken I apologize. Either way I believe Bill O’Brien to be a mediocre coach so far based on his record. Perhaps he will step it up at BC. The FSU game was a good start.
You said he should have never coached again, anywhere (his career should have been over, according to you) after that game. And, yet, he didn’t coach that game. Because he wasn’t the PSU coach then. He had moved on. Franklin was the coach. Another poster mentioned the derogatory “Flo” to indicate that O’Brien’s OL recruiting (or lack thereof) left the cupboard bare, resulting in that situation.
That was a brutal game to watch. Our OLine were like toll gate attendants on a super highway. Only they weren’t asking the Temple rushers to slow down at all. The only thing missing from that comedy act was the two guards pulling and smashing headlong into each other with Hack caught in the middle.
It could have been worse. In that game Hack might have dropped to the ground without anyone rushing him in a pre conditioned self preservation move.
They were certainly a big part of it as well, but in football, so much of it starts with the head coach. I am forever grateful to BOB for leading us through that very dark time period. Death penalty was on the table in that time. The NCAA allowed schools to come in and poach our players. Our brand was as low as it could possibly get. And in some respects, our brand is still impacted by the sins of Sandusky. I’m also very grateful for Franklin for continuing what Joe started in terms of running as clean of a program as you can ask for in these days while maintaining a high degree of success. Obviously, we all want a natty with an occasional beatdown of OSU, and at least it’s in the realm of possibility with Franklin. Hopefully he can get us all the way there.
Why do you hate the guy who helped save this program, and refuse to give him any credit? Is it a JoePa thing (almost everything is amongst many posters)? Are you just mad at everything/everyone that existed around the university at that time?
Very good. Just would add to the sins of Sandusky the sins of our BoT, Corbett, and the media,
The last few years of Joe's recruiting weren't strong in OL, either. Looking at depth chart from that year, the talent wasn't great, and where it was good, it often came with a lack of experience. I don't think any of that year's starting OL would be starters on this year's team and only one or two would make the two-deep.
The handle "Sackenberg" was developed that day....sadly I was there : (
