James Franklin is 25-1 vs. Pitt on commonly offered recruits since coming to PSU
- Thread starter Judge Smails
- Start date
And for the one he missed on, he has compensated very nicely.
That's actually a staggering statistic.
That's actually a staggering statistic.
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anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
Guest
He's doing a great job. As a Rutgers fan I remember winning a decent number of head to head recruiting battles with PSU in the late Schiano days. Since Franklin came on board I can't think of one.
Someone that Rutgers was able to snag in the later Schiano years that I thought Penn State really could have used was LB Kevin Snyder, who I believe had a pretty nice career when he wasn't injured. PSU didn't really seem to recruit the Harrisburg area very strongly at all in some of the later Paterno years.
Now I'm no numbers guy like some of the nerds on this here board, but that appears to be a trend.
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anon_is9z1n0h3zblb
Guest
"It's because Franklin is a used car salesman."
"It was because of coaching instability at Pitt."
"Narduzzi is just more selective."
"PSU cheats."
"Wait until February when all of the recruits have flipped to Pitt."
"A 10-2 season will bring all the WPIAL recruits to Pitt."
"They will all jump once they see how terrible of a game day coach Franklin is."
"PSU only recruits players that will not qualify academically."
"Narduzzi only recruits players that he can coach."
"Narduzzi is great at picking out diamonds in the rough."
"How many great recruiting classes did MSU have? He's following Dantonio's recruiting philosophy."
"We'd do better if we had a private jet and helicopter."
That's all of the lame excuses for this year and last year that I could come up with off the top of my head.
And, the best lame excuse for next year: "PSU cheats with a high COA allowance."
"It was because of coaching instability at Pitt."
"Narduzzi is just more selective."
"PSU cheats."
"Wait until February when all of the recruits have flipped to Pitt."
"A 10-2 season will bring all the WPIAL recruits to Pitt."
"They will all jump once they see how terrible of a game day coach Franklin is."
"PSU only recruits players that will not qualify academically."
"Narduzzi only recruits players that he can coach."
"Narduzzi is great at picking out diamonds in the rough."
"How many great recruiting classes did MSU have? He's following Dantonio's recruiting philosophy."
"We'd do better if we had a private jet and helicopter."
That's all of the lame excuses for this year and last year that I could come up with off the top of my head.
And, the best lame excuse for next year: "PSU cheats with a high COA allowance."
That is going to be a familiar refrain going forward. Nick Saban has already gone off about it. http://www.al.com/alabamafootball/index.ssf/2015/05/nick_saban_not_going_to_get_hi.html
That's a fun number to look at, but not really relevant to our situation. Pitt is only a step above Temple at this point. We need to compare ourselves to OSU, MSU, and Michigan.
Disagree. If you pick off 3-4 four star players in Western PA that might have picked Pitt in the past, that's extremely important to putting together a class.
Beyond that, our record on commonly offered recruits vs. OSU, MSU and Michigan is extremely respectable. For instance, against OSU last year I believe we were 9 PSU vs. 8 OSU.
Agree with that, Judge. Take a few of those kids away from Pitt, and they are gonna be hurting. Look at Boyd, for instance. If not for the sanctions, he was likely headed here. Can you imagine Pitt without him? They are a 4 win team.
I agree we need to dominate Pitt in Western PA and I obviously Franklin has. I'm just saying the next step is to be a Top 10 recruiting program. We are getting close, but not there yet.
Well, one problem with shooting for "Top 10 classes" is that there are many SEC schools, and Ohio State, that are taking 25 players or more every single year. Unless Penn State does that, it's going to be difficult to consistently be in the Top 10 every year. I think Top 15 on average is a good goal.
Cruising Route 66
Well-Known Member
The academic excuse is particularly hilarious. Please refer my other thread titled "Fun with Graphs....".
So what! We are probably better than 25-1 against Toledo, Bucknell, Youngstown State, Kent State, etc. Pitt is in this category of recruiting opposition to us. The fact that we are dominating a weakling doesn't mean much. We need to do well against Alabama, Michigan, and other top tier schools. Let Pitt fight it out with Kent State and Duquesne for the leftovers.
Agreed, and beyond that, unless we play by SEC rules across the board, we will have some very nice teams, go to some very nice bowls, hit the top 5 every now and then, but will rarely compete for a National Championship. That's OK with me, but some here are expecting much more and I just don't see it happening.
I don't get the need to put a ceiling on how high this program can go. Franklin is recruiting at a level at PSU that we haven't seen since, what, the mid 90s. If he starts to win 10 or 11 games consistently, does that push you into a higher stratosphere of recruiting than Top 15? He's doing what he's doing after the biggest scandal in CFB history. This is on the back of 7, 8 wins seasons. If he doesn't have that anchor, what then?
I like JF's philosophy. He doesn't set goals. He wants the players and the staff to go out and maximize every single day. And if you start stacking up great days.....and great recruiting classes....well let's see where that can take you. I think fans should have the same mindset. No need to talk MNC, or no MNC. Let's just support PSU and Franklin and see where he can take us.
I'm fine with your last statement, but I see some here who think we will be playing for a National Championship in 5 years. If it happens, Franklin will be a candidate for sainthood. I guess my problem is that I think college football is rigged in favor of those who push the rules as far as they can and I don't see us doing that. Still, your last line is a good message....Support the program and see where we are a few years down the road.
If JF dominates the region, as he said he intends to do, then there is no ceiling. Getting the best players from PA, NJ, MD, NY, etc, and getting a few high end kids out of the region each year is a recipe for success at the highest level. I'll take that formula over having to split SEC territory 14 ways.
What I find hilarious is the Pitt fan(s) who argue that Franklin isn't anything special as a recruiter since PSU sells itself. According to them, anyone can recruit well and there are even some that have speculated that Paul Chryst could have recruiter well if he was PSU's coach. Just for sh*ts and grins, I looked over his last full class at Vanderbilt(2013). That class was rated at #19 by Rivals and was filled with mostly 4 and high end 3 star recruits that had multiple offers from good SEC schools. I think Pitt fans would be tickled pink if they could ever get the type of class that Franklin got at Vandy in 2013 but according to them, he is nothing special as a recruiter.
It's subtle, but the Lair inhabitants are really just now starting to get the idea about how screwed they are. Now it's not Franklin, but the whole PSU package and cult that does the recruiting for him. All he had to do was show up.
Totally agree with you, Judge. For whatever reason, Pitt has gotten some really, really great college players (even recently). If you can grab those couple of players from them, that's huge. WPIAL is not what it used to be, but it is still very fertile ground.
You guys are clearly wackadoddles good lord if life was based on college football you could go to the head of the class...clearly wackododdles!,,, at least I got a good laugh
That's the point of this site, to be wackadoddles about college football. Why else are we here? The point is that sPitt is losing in a big way and all you can say is that we are wackadoddles? I'll take that all day long.
That's good. You can never ever laugh during football season. It's far, far too painful.
You poor schmucks deserve a laugh, with your current recruiting ranking. Dear Lord, it's pathetic.
That is a great record, but lets face it. A cardboard cutout of Joe could probably go 20-5 against Pitt!
In Pittsburgh "wackododdles" means "kicking our ass in recruiting".
I would say we need to be top 10 in average star ratings, although obviously H.S. Ratings are not directly related to actual performance. But I believe our current avg of 3.5-3.6 would be fringe top 10. We are not in the SEC so we can't recruit 125 players over 5 years and annually cut down to the 85 max in the Spring like an NFL team does in training camp.
You must have snuck out of the Symphony to post this gem!
I mean, the Symphony, poetry readings, and the Art Museum are where Pitt fans spend most of their free time - even on most fall Saturdays.
