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Friday night, PSU vs. Iowa...where PSU used to be in football...

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NealPaige

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Dec 29, 2016
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Growing up in the 80's, this is where Penn State used to be regarded nationally on the gridiron. Bad asses who typically shined in big games and generally sustained excellence.

Thank you wrestling program. You have made us all proud, you are a dominating program. I hope if a Hawkeye wrestler gets hurt, one of our assistant coaches doesn't fall down and feign injury.
T.i.c., this program has too much class. Look forward to Friday night, for just a bit of salty revenge on the pricks in IA. GO LIONS!
 
NealPaige said:
Growing up in the 80's, this is where Penn State used to be regarded nationally on the gridiron. Bad asses who typically shined in big games and generally sustained excellence.

Thank you wrestling program. You have made us all proud, you are a dominating program. I hope if a Hawkeye wrestler gets hurt, one of our assistant coaches doesn't fall down and feign injury.
T.i.c., this program has too much class. Look forward to Friday night, for just a bit of salty revenge on the pricks in IA. GO LIONS!
Click to expand...
You forgot to yell ‘Fire Franklin’. Two demerit points for you!
 
NealPaige said:
Growing up in the 80's, this is where Penn State used to be regarded nationally on the gridiron. Bad asses who typically shined in big games and generally sustained excellence.

Thank you wrestling program. You have made us all proud, you are a dominating program. I hope if a Hawkeye wrestler gets hurt, one of our assistant coaches doesn't fall down and feign injury.
T.i.c., this program has too much class. Look forward to Friday night, for just a bit of salty revenge on the pricks in IA. GO LIONS!
Click to expand...
It also helps that wrestling is an important school sport in PA; PA may be the preeminent state for that sport at all levels. Alternatively, it seems as if the overall state of high school football in PA has slipped dramatically in recent years, especially in Western PA. Our program used to be stocked with the sons of blue collar steel workers, coal minors, etc., who lived and breathed PSU football and would do anything to play for the school. These were tough, hard-nosed kids who weren't afraid of tough situations. I certainly can't say that about the general makeup of the program now.
 
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bcspsu said:
It also helps that wrestling is an important school sport in PA; PA may be the preeminent state for that sport at all levels. Alternatively, it seems as if the overall state of high school football in PA has slipped dramatically in recent years, especially in Western PA. Our program used to be stocked with the sons of blue collar steel workers, coal minors, etc., who lived and breathed PSU football and would do anything to play for the school. These were tough, hard-nosed kids who weren't afraid of tough situations. I certainly can't say that about the general makeup of the program now.
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Exactly right; the overall state of Pa football has slipped dramatically in recent years. Interestingly, more of the better Pa high school players aren’t even from those traditional areas you mentioned.
 
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NealPaige said:
Growing up in the 80's, this is where Penn State used to be regarded nationally on the gridiron. Bad asses who typically shined in big games and generally sustained excellence.

Thank you wrestling program. You have made us all proud, you are a dominating program. I hope if a Hawkeye wrestler gets hurt, one of our assistant coaches doesn't fall down and feign injury.
T.i.c., this program has too much class. Look forward to Friday night, for just a bit of salty revenge on the pricks in IA. GO LIONS!
Click to expand...
Where were you in 2000-2012?

Who coached the 2004, 6-4 loss to Iowa? Fire Joe?
 
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bcspsu said:
It also helps that wrestling is an important school sport in PA; PA may be the preeminent state for that sport at all levels. Alternatively, it seems as if the overall state of high school football in PA has slipped dramatically in recent years, especially in Western PA. Our program used to be stocked with the sons of blue collar steel workers, coal minors, etc., who lived and breathed PSU football and would do anything to play for the school. These were tough, hard-nosed kids who weren't afraid of tough situations. I certainly can't say that about the general makeup of the program now.
Click to expand...


The things that most impacted football in PA are a change in demographics (fewer kids in high school now, leads to fewer good athletes in high school) and more choices in sports to play. Many of the kids who played football up thru the early 80s did not have the option to maybe play Hockey or Lacrosse, and if you go back to the 70s soccer. Add to that the rise of the 1 sport kid, that blue-chip power forward or sure fire 1st-4th round draft pick pitcher is not going to also play football.

You bring up the old "blue collar mill kid" but there are districts who were suburban white collar who were good back then (who some are still good today today too) so that is not as much at play as most think.
 
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stf110 said:
The things that most impacted football in PA are a change in demographics (fewer kids in high school now, leads to fewer good athletes in high school) and more choices in sports to play. Many of the kids who played football up thru the early 80s did not have the option to maybe play Hockey or Lacrosse, and if you go back to the 70s soccer. Add to that the rise of the 1 sport kid, that blue-chip power forward or sure fire 1st-4th round draft pick pitcher is not going to also play football.

You bring up the old "blue collar mill kid" but there are districts who were suburban white collar who were good back then (who some are still good today today too) so that is not as much at play as most think.
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I just was thinking about kids like Chuck Fusina, who played his high school ball about three miles from where I grew up, and the Northeastern PA kids like Mike Munchak, and the New Jersey paesanos who were a fixture on the 70s and 80s PSU teams. Like I said, these kids brought a tough mentality to PSU football which I think is obviously missing now in general. With that said, I know that those times are gone and never will return.
 
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bcspsu said:
I just was thinking about kids like Chuck Fusina, who played his high school ball about three miles from where I grew up, and the Northeastern PA kids like Mike Munchak, and the New Jersey paesanos who were a fixture on the 70s and 80s PSU teams. Like I said, these kids brought a tough mentality to PSU football which I think is obviously missing now in general. With that said, I know that those times are gone and never will return.
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It starts with the coach who sets the culture. Back in the late 60s, 70s, 80s and first half of the 90s we were known as tough minded teams and tough physical teams who could pull games out games in the clutch. This was Paterno's influence.
Now we have Franklin, toughness, grit, clutch, not part of the team's makeup unfortunately.
 
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ryoder1 said:
It starts with the coach who sets the culture. Back in the late 60s, 70s, 80s and first half of the 90s we were known as tough minded teams and tough physical teams who could pull games out games in the clutch. This was Paterno's influence.
Now we have Franklin, toughness, grit, clutch, not part of the team's makeup unfortunately.
Click to expand...
To be fair he in on par with a title a decade in the BT with Joe from 1999 on. Joe didn't dominate anything his last decade plus, but people forget that. Was his toughness there in 2000-2004 or in 1999 when they folded with 3 straight losses with the top 2 picks in the NFL draft, followed by 4 losing seasons in 5 years? In fact the problem with PSU is an older Joe thought PSU was above recruiting using technology like emails or skype. Hell it was a big deal when Joe skyped with Pryor and everyone else was already doing this. He was too big to do visits and stopped. Joe didn't want to invest in the program anymore and it fell behind. It's as if people don't want to admit that here. So while the young Paterno was in incredible, he left the program behind others instead of at the top. OB and Franklin didn't inherit PSU of 1986, far from it. Joe is a GOAT, but somehow plenty of people forget OSU, Iowa, and UM owning Joe for that last decade.

My issue with Franklin is the (hopefully was) the annual flirtation with any top school that had an opening. You can say it wasn't a distraction, but it seems like it was. Yes the most current teams lacked some toughness and the OL in particular seems to be the annual issue, but he also went to 3 NYD top 6 bowl games in 4 years.....so I won't sit here and say he's a failure as Joe wasn't doing that from 1999 on either. This post will rub some the wrong way, but PSU in this millennium isn't really any different with Joe or anyone else at the wheel. Joe had a great run in 05, Franklin did in 2016. Some decent years in between, but the program overall hopefully can and should do better. Let's hope last years class is the start of something good.
 
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LaJollaLion said:
To be fair he in on par with a title a decade in the BT with Joe from 1999 on. Joe didn't dominate anything his last decade plus, but people forget that. Was his toughness there in 2000-2004 or in 1999 when they folded with 3 straight losses with the top 2 picks in the NFL draft, followed by 4 losing seasons in 5 years? In fact the problem with PSU is an older Joe thought PSU was above recruiting using technology like emails or skype. Hell it was a big deal when Joe skyped with Pryor and everyone else was already doing this. He was too big to do visits and stopped. Joe didn't want to invest in the program anymore and it fell behind. It's as if people don't want to admit that here. So while the young Paterno was in incredible, he left the program behind others instead of at the top. OB and Franklin didn't inherit PSU of 1986, far from it. Joe is a GOAT, but somehow plenty of people forget OSU, Iowa, and UM owning Joe for that last decade.

My issue with Franklin is the (hopefully was) the annual flirtation with any top school that had an opening. You can say it wasn't a distraction, but it seems like it was. Yes the most current teams lacked some toughness and the OL in particular seems to be the annual issue, but he also went to 3 NYD top 6 bowl games in 4 years.....so I won't sit here and say he's a failure as Joe wasn't doing that from 1999 on either. This post will rub some the wrong way, but PSU in this millennium isn't really any different with Joe or anyone else at the wheel. Joe had a great run in 05, Franklin did in 2016. Some decent years in between, but the program overall hopefully can and should do better. Let's hope last years class is the start of something good.
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The late 1990s teams were the most frustrating in PSU history… loaded with talent but not with toughness. We massively underachieved back then, even worse than these Franklin years.
 
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bcspsu said:
I just was thinking about kids like Chuck Fusina, who played his high school ball about three miles from where I grew up, and the Northeastern PA kids like Mike Munchak, and the New Jersey paesanos who were a fixture on the 70s and 80s PSU teams. Like I said, these kids brought a tough mentality to PSU football which I think is obviously missing now in general. With that said, I know that those times are gone and never will return.
Click to expand...
Those kids need to be manufactured now. It hard though. How many kids ever throw hay bales these days, shovel coal, help dad with some home improvement thing?
They might workout hard but there's something lacking. I think wrestlers have that mindset yet.
 
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LaJollaLion said:
To be fair he in on par with a title a decade in the BT with Joe from 1999 on. Joe didn't dominate anything his last decade plus, but people forget that. Was his toughness there in 2000-2004 or in 1999 when they folded with 3 straight losses with the top 2 picks in the NFL draft, followed by 4 losing seasons in 5 years? In fact the problem with PSU is an older Joe thought PSU was above recruiting using technology like emails or skype. Hell it was a big deal when Joe skyped with Pryor and everyone else was already doing this. He was too big to do visits and stopped. Joe didn't want to invest in the program anymore and it fell behind. It's as if people don't want to admit that here. So while the young Paterno was in incredible, he left the program behind others instead of at the top. OB and Franklin didn't inherit PSU of 1986, far from it. Joe is a GOAT, but somehow plenty of people forget OSU, Iowa, and UM owning Joe for that last decade.

My issue with Franklin is the (hopefully was) the annual flirtation with any top school that had an opening. You can say it wasn't a distraction, but it seems like it was. Yes the most current teams lacked some toughness and the OL in particular seems to be the annual issue, but he also went to 3 NYD top 6 bowl games in 4 years.....so I won't sit here and say he's a failure as Joe wasn't doing that from 1999 on either. This post will rub some the wrong way, but PSU in this millennium isn't really any different with Joe or anyone else at the wheel. Joe had a great run in 05, Franklin did in 2016. Some decent years in between, but the program overall hopefully can and should do better. Let's hope last years class is the start of something good.
Click to expand...
Yeah the guy really stunk after 1999. Let’s ignore him going 11-1 in 2005, wining the B1G championship. And those Coach of the Year honors by Sporting News, Walter Camp, and others really do not mean anything. And following that with 9-4, 9-4, 11-2, 11-2 and winning the B1G again in 2008 is just more proof that he really lost it. And when the big scandal hit he was 8-1 with a solid team.....musta been Jay that saved the day there.

Just amazing the program was able to overcome all that terrible incompetence.
 
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The Spin Meister said:
Yeah the guy really stunk after 1999. Let’s ignore him going 11-1 in 2005, wining the B1G championship. And those Coach of the Year honors by Sporting News, Walter Camp, and others really do not mean anything. And following that with 9-4, 9-4, 11-2, 11-2 and winning the B1G again in 2008 is just more proof that he really lost it. And when the big scandal hit he was 8-1 with a solid team.....musta been Jay that saved the day there.

Just amazing the program was able to overcome all that terrible incompetence.
Click to expand...
Let's ignore his 4 win team too.
 
ryoder1 said:
It starts with the coach who sets the culture. Back in the late 60s, 70s, 80s and first half of the 90s we were known as tough minded teams and tough physical teams who could pull games out games in the clutch. This was Paterno's influence.
Now we have Franklin, toughness, grit, clutch, not part of the team's makeup unfortunately.
Click to expand...
Whose toughness did the team have in 2004 when they went 4-8?
 
horace19040 said:
Whose toughness did the team have in 2004 when they went 4-8?
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That season had little to do with lack of toughness. In fact the defense was tremendous and fought through every game. The problems an inept offense. Zach Mills was weakened by injury, Robertson not yet ready for prime time, and the worst receivers in history.

I was at the 6-4 loss. The receivers could barely get off the line of scrimmage. The next year they had better receivers and a QB and went 11-1 winning the big. And Joe multiple national coach of the year titles.

Wallow in your negativity and derision if it somehow elevates you. But l will point out the facts as I know them.
 
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