I've often said that I'd rather have a good, innovative coaching staff with top 25 rated talent than a lackluster staff with top 5 rated talent. See UofM under Brady Hoke as an example of an underachieving team, or ND under Charlie Weiss or Bob Davie. Perhaps look at our own team in the late '90s under JoePa and his staff. And while no one is willing to claim that CJF and his crew are top-tier game day coaches, we can all agree that what needs to happen to secure top 10 recruiting classes going forward is to start winning games, particularly games PSU is not supposed to. So CJF and his staff have to turn it up a notch on the field, and with JoMo, the offense is a great place to start.
Take a page out of Boise State (for so many years) -- nowhere near the top 20 in terms of recruiting rankings, but they produced on the field for a while, and before long, the recruiting got better. It doesn't have to be done with a "gimmick" type offense -- but without a top-tier OL, yeah, JoMo is going to have to add more innovation to that playbook than we would have otherwise. Anything to win games, no matter how it's done. Take the Wisconsin example, perhaps Iowa as well. Every 3-4 years they always seem to have that team competing for the B1G title, without consistent top 25 talent based on the recruiting rankings.
It boils down to risk management. CJF is going to have to take more risks on the field in 2016, especially when they're a heavy underdog, if he's going to remain at Penn State for the duration of his contract. We can no longer get away with running it down our opponents throat as we've done in the past. Actually, we haven't been able to get away with that philosophy since the sanctions were implemented; with BOB, the offensive playbook was diversified enough (along with the vets on the OL) to give the impression that PSU's offense "over-performed" in 2012, and particularly in 2013 with a true freshman QB. People outside of PSU forgot how bad our defense was under Butler. Again, perception!
Perception is everything. Even loss, if it's close, on the road to a UofM, or at home to tOSU, would go a long way. Penn State has to over-perform, exceed expectations going forward. It starts with coaching, preparation, development, and ultimately what transpires on the field. That's what teams lacking the superior talent of the big boys have to do first to get on par with the big boys; once they do that, *then* the talent will flood back in on a consistent basis. There's no denying that this class would have ranked far better had PSU gone 9-4 or 10-3 instead of 7-6.
If Franklin cannot get it done in 2016 or '17, then the recruiting will suffer, which means he's gone anyway. Whether he had the #1 or #21 recruiting class for 2016 would probably not make that much of a difference with Penn State's 2016 and possibly 2017 W-L record. And it's those W-L records that will be so critical for recruiting in '17 and beyond. In the end, if he's going to remain PSU's HC after 2017, he has to overachieve with the guys he's been able to assemble over the last few years. Fair or not, that's the reality.
Take a page out of Boise State (for so many years) -- nowhere near the top 20 in terms of recruiting rankings, but they produced on the field for a while, and before long, the recruiting got better. It doesn't have to be done with a "gimmick" type offense -- but without a top-tier OL, yeah, JoMo is going to have to add more innovation to that playbook than we would have otherwise. Anything to win games, no matter how it's done. Take the Wisconsin example, perhaps Iowa as well. Every 3-4 years they always seem to have that team competing for the B1G title, without consistent top 25 talent based on the recruiting rankings.
It boils down to risk management. CJF is going to have to take more risks on the field in 2016, especially when they're a heavy underdog, if he's going to remain at Penn State for the duration of his contract. We can no longer get away with running it down our opponents throat as we've done in the past. Actually, we haven't been able to get away with that philosophy since the sanctions were implemented; with BOB, the offensive playbook was diversified enough (along with the vets on the OL) to give the impression that PSU's offense "over-performed" in 2012, and particularly in 2013 with a true freshman QB. People outside of PSU forgot how bad our defense was under Butler. Again, perception!
Perception is everything. Even loss, if it's close, on the road to a UofM, or at home to tOSU, would go a long way. Penn State has to over-perform, exceed expectations going forward. It starts with coaching, preparation, development, and ultimately what transpires on the field. That's what teams lacking the superior talent of the big boys have to do first to get on par with the big boys; once they do that, *then* the talent will flood back in on a consistent basis. There's no denying that this class would have ranked far better had PSU gone 9-4 or 10-3 instead of 7-6.
If Franklin cannot get it done in 2016 or '17, then the recruiting will suffer, which means he's gone anyway. Whether he had the #1 or #21 recruiting class for 2016 would probably not make that much of a difference with Penn State's 2016 and possibly 2017 W-L record. And it's those W-L records that will be so critical for recruiting in '17 and beyond. In the end, if he's going to remain PSU's HC after 2017, he has to overachieve with the guys he's been able to assemble over the last few years. Fair or not, that's the reality.
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