Funny how exceeding expectations just raises expectations!🤷🏿‍♂️

[The Spin Meister]

Preseason talk all summer here was ‘We might finally make the playoffs!’ because of the expansion.

Mid season the talk was still about making the playoffs…..would a two loss get us in? Is even a three loss playoff team possible ?

Expect two losses: suckeyes and USC or Washington.

Then we shock everyone and get into the CCG with only one loss and playing against the #1 team in the country. True underdogs.

But play well with a good shot of winning. Raised hopes and expectations again.

Get in playoffs with a sweet bracket. Then we raise expectations to where we have to win not just one playoff game but two to break the Big Game James myth. We do that with relative ease.

So now the expectations were we have to win and get in title game. Anything short means the season was a disappointment and FIRE EVERYBODY!!! Is the mantra.

It is what it is🤷🏿‍♂️

 

[RickinDayton]

Preseason talk all summer here was ‘We might finally make the playoffs!’ because of the expansion.

Mid season the talk was still about making the playoffs…..would a two loss get us in? Is even a three loss playoff team possible ?

Expect two losses: suckeyes and USC or Washington.

Then we shock everyone and get into the CCG with only one loss and playing against the #1 team in the country. True underdogs.

But play well with a good shot of winning. Raised hopes and expectations again.

Get in playoffs with a sweet bracket. Then we raise expectations to where we have to win not just one playoff game but two to break the Big Game James myth. We do that with relative ease.

So now the expectations were we have to win and get in title game. Anything short means the season was a disappointment and FIRE EVERYBODY!!! Is the mantra.

It is what it is🤷🏿‍♂️

The only staff change (firing) I think should occur is Hagans (WRs coach). Also a bit concerned about Danny O'Brien, QB coach.

 

[The Spin Meister]

The only staff change (firing) I think should occur is Hagans (WRs coach). Also a bit concerned about Danny O'Brien, QB coach.

The point remains: we greatly exceeded expectations.

Only one regular season loss.

Make the CCG and play the #1 ranked team in the country all it can handle.

Win not one but two playoff games.

Play in semifinal game and lose on a boneheaded interception.

If I or anyone predicted that outcome back in August…..or even October…..I would have been laughed at and ridiculed. (Even more than regular🥴).

 

[MacNit2.0]

Preseason talk all summer here was ‘We might finally make the playoffs!’ because of the expansion.

Mid season the talk was still about making the playoffs…..would a two loss get us in? Is even a three loss playoff team possible ?

Expect two losses: suckeyes and USC or Washington.

Then we shock everyone and get into the CCG with only one loss and playing against the #1 team in the country. True underdogs.

But play well with a good shot of winning. Raised hopes and expectations again.

Get in playoffs with a sweet bracket. Then we raise expectations to where we have to win not just one playoff game but two to break the Big Game James myth. We do that with relative ease.

So now the expectations were we have to win and get in title game. Anything short means the season was a disappointment and FIRE EVERYBODY!!! Is the mantra.

It is what it is🤷🏿‍♂️

Did not win a single game we were not favored to win. PSU did about exactly as expected.

What most did not expect was how the seedings would end up so screwed up. You would think that will be addressed.

Once that is worked out, and best teams are in and seeded properly (what person things O$U should have been seeded as low as they were?), that loophole will not exist.

Outside of us, no one is taking about PSU. And the ones that are simply repeating “can’t win a big game.” Cemented in now. With no signs that it will change.

 

[PSU4U]

The only staff change (firing) I think should occur is Hagans (WRs coach). Also a bit concerned about Danny O'Brien, QB coach.

I agree that Hagans must be under the microscope but I'm not so sure about O'Brien just yet. I think most of Allar's problems are Allar and the fact that he just doesn't have the collection of receivers needed.

IMO Allars throwing deficiencies are in his head as it relates to footwork and throwing. His release often is too short or two long causing his passes to be low and behind the receiver or high and long. All of that is in direct correlation with his feet. If a guy is consistently doing the wrong things, it's not the coach all of which is just my opinion coming from observation.

 

[LionFan87b]

Did not win a single game we were not favored to win. PSU did about exactly as expected.

Even when you're favored to win 13 individual games, you are not expected to win all of them or even 11 or 12 of them, necessarily.

 

[91Joe95]

I don't think expectations have been lowered. I think lowered playoff requirements, along with the ridiculously easy draw in the playoffs, draws additional scrutiny. While I saw the team improve, I also saw a lot of the exact same problems continue to occur throughout the 3 loss season.

 

[Ian]

Squads ready for it. They know next yr could be special. Remember 1981 and 85? How about 1993? It’s the Penn State way. Allar is Collins like. Remember his yr before the big yr?

 

[91Joe95]

Squads ready for it. They know next yr could be special. Remember 1981 and 85? How about 1993? It’s the Penn State way. Allar is Collins like. Remember his yr before the big yr?

That's the hope.

 

[Ian]

It’s coming. Hop on the train!

 

[PSU4U]

Squads ready for it. They know next yr could be special. Remember 1981 and 85? How about 1993? It’s the Penn State way. Allar is Collins like. Remember his yr before the big yr?

In respect to Collins, he did break that finger requiring him to relearn how to throw the football once it healed. When he was able to get all that down, he was much better the following year. Drews problems are not the same, imo.

 

[PSU4U]

That's the hope.

While that is true there should be enough improved talent on hand to make another serious run, assuming they can get the eligible ingredients to come back.

 

[demlion]

Preseason talk all summer here was ‘We might finally make the playoffs!’ because of the expansion.

Mid season the talk was still about making the playoffs…..would a two loss get us in? Is even a three loss playoff team possible ?

Expect two losses: suckeyes and USC or Washington.

Then we shock everyone and get into the CCG with only one loss and playing against the #1 team in the country. True underdogs.

But play well with a good shot of winning. Raised hopes and expectations again.

Get in playoffs with a sweet bracket. Then we raise expectations to where we have to win not just one playoff game but two to break the Big Game James myth. We do that with relative ease.

So now the expectations were we have to win and get in title game. Anything short means the season was a disappointment and FIRE EVERYBODY!!! Is the mantra.

It is what it is🤷🏿‍♂️

We lost 2 Oregon, #1 when we played them. We lost to Ohio State, which will be favored to finish #1. AND we lost to ND, which will be #1 if OSU is not.

Please. Why the hell would a person call himself a PSU fan if his view is we need to fire the coach?

 

[LionDeNittany]

The point remains: we greatly exceeded expectations.

Only one regular season loss.

Make the CCG and play the #1 ranked team in the country all it can handle.

Win not one but two playoff games.

Play in semifinal game and lose on a boneheaded interception.

If I or anyone predicted that outcome back in August…..or even October…..I would have been laughed at and ridiculed. (Even more than regular🥴).

You could make the argument that we exceeded expectations, but as you rolled through the season and realized how weak the competition was, we didn't.

There is a bit of hindsight, but who did we play that was a very good team? OSU, Oregon and ND. And we lost to them all.

Everyone on here is trashing IU for their schedule. Ours was similar.

LdN

 

[The Spin Meister]

Did not win a single game we were not favored to win. PSU did about exactly as expected.

What most did not expect was how the seedings would end up so screwed up. You would think that will be addressed.

Once that is worked out, and best teams are in and seeded properly (what person things O$U should have been seeded as low as they were?), that loophole will not exist.

Outside of us, no one is taking about PSU. And the ones that are simply repeating “can’t win a big game.” Cemented in now. With no signs that it will change.

Next time I post anything even slightly positive I will include a trigger warning for you! ‼️ ⚠️ ⛔️

 

[blair10]

Preseason talk all summer here was ‘We might finally make the playoffs!’ because of the expansion.

Mid season the talk was still about making the playoffs…..would a two loss get us in? Is even a three loss playoff team possible ?

Expect two losses: suckeyes and USC or Washington.

Then we shock everyone and get into the CCG with only one loss and playing against the #1 team in the country. True underdogs.

But play well with a good shot of winning. Raised hopes and expectations again.

Get in playoffs with a sweet bracket. Then we raise expectations to where we have to win not just one playoff game but two to break the Big Game James myth. We do that with relative ease.

So now the expectations were we have to win and get in title game. Anything short means the season was a disappointment and FIRE EVERYBODY!!! Is the mantra.

It is what it is🤷🏿‍♂️

I think your perspective is a little exaggerated. Let’s start with Franklin and the team’s expectations.

Franklin was very vocal in stating the need for Penn State’s offense to become explosive. Lack of an explosive offense is what got Yurcich fired. Clearly, the 2024 offense was never described as explosive by any objective viewer. Kotelnicki had to resort to tricks and gimmicks to mitigate the shortcoming of the offense. The explosive offense failed to materialize. Instead, Penn State had to rely on a power run game, all-America TE, and a bruising offensive line. While this was fun to watch at times, a legitimate deep threat passing game was missing and doomed the team in clashes against big time competition (Ohio State, Oregon, ND). Nothing wrong for fans to call out the WR and deep passing game shortcoming.

Given the very soft schedule and favorable playoff path, the expectations were raised and rightfully so. Penn State has more talent and is a better team than Notre Dame. Fans and players have a reasonable case for being disappointed with the ending of the season.

Lastly, Franklin actually had one of his best coaching games against ND and there has been very little criticism of him by PSU fans for the ND game. Franklin deserves a lot of credit for getting Penn State in the National Championship narrative. I think most fans appreciate that achievement.