Perhaps you should try to figure out why the QB threw terrible passes? The answer is pretty complicated but enlightening. If you look at the root causes, it is hard to think the overwhelming majority is on the players.
Penn State season stats do not resemble the 4-5 record
- Thread starter blion72
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Perhaps you should try to figure out why the QB threw terrible passes? The answer is pretty complicated but enlightening. If you look at the root causes, it is hard to think the overwhelming majority is on the players.
Indiana...should have been a win but you blow an 8 point lead very late and a 7 point lead in OT... Ohio State..save for a few big plays by Dotson...not close.. Maryland...down 28-7 at half..35-7 in the 3rd..not close..Nebraska..IMO PSU gave this away but still Clifford,,,strip sack fumble leads to a 24-3 Nebraska lead..Levis provided a spark but offense inside red zone was horrific..Iowa..PSU down 24-7 at half..Iowa much more physical on both sides of the ball...not really close....
So really the Indiana game..and they are 5-4....and maybe, maybe Nebraska....and PSU‘s wins weren’t exactly against murder’s row. I agree with another post here that mentioned all the turnovers that led to points against them were killer
So really the Indiana game..and they are 5-4....and maybe, maybe Nebraska....and PSU‘s wins weren’t exactly against murder’s row. I agree with another post here that mentioned all the turnovers that led to points against them were killer
Outside of a couple of games, they’ve been in a position to win every game they’ve played in for the last five years. They had the lead going into the fourth quarter in like 31 games in a row....that’s the opposite of being in a position to lose. It almost never happens. And he’s coached a legit playoff contender for three out of the last five years. He’s also won more than any other coach except three in the last five years. So if he’s not good enough, that means we better hope we can get Saban, Swinney or Smart because he’s won more than anyone else in any conference.
The erratic passing is on SC. But you can coach SC to protect the ball better at least to a degree. And if SC doesn't respond to coaching, then he should be replaced.
Beating the piss out of your QBs because you insist on running QB draws for half the game, well that's on the coach too. Hell, I don't think old school triple option QBs ran that much.
Did the coaches not handle the joystick right and pushed the wrong button on the controller? When the QB makes a terrible decision, that’s on the QB.
They did coach him to protect the ball better...look at his turnovers the last four games compared to the first five....but dumb decisions are on the player.
That I actually agree with. Why did it take over half the season though to get it right? That's on both player and coach.
Hard to say....maybe Clifford didn’t get it. Maybe, due to Covid, they couldn’t work on it properly. Maybe Clifford did everything right in practice then messed up in the game. We don’t know, but considering this hasn’t been a huge problem for the past seven years, I highly doubt it’s Franklin’s fault or he suddenly forgot how to coach.
SC was trying to make plays early in the season that he was unable to make. Athletically, he's limited. He must be a game manager. He can't put the team on his shoulders and win a game. Although he believed he could early in the season which led to the poor play. After he was humbled/benched he realized his situation. Plus the OL improved with the weaker competition and the young rbs started to figure it out. There is no reason that he can't win 10 or more games next year if he doesn't try to do too much.
I agree that the problems run much deeper than losing Oweh. I thought we had some solid talent but the play on the field did not show that. Our D had some decent stats but was terrible about keeping the opponent off the scoreboard. That is the key metric so by definition we were not good or effective on D.
Not sure of your logic here. Our record was what it was....4-5 regardless of the stats.
My 2 cents...
if the offense had been dialed back considerably mainly clifford’s reads, mistakes would have been reduced maybe the same outcomes but a lot closer
2 DTs in the portal I have no inside info but what’s up with that? Spence (?) leaving felt like the biggest impacts to me our and brought the whole d play down. Our LBers are talented but they need space. Maybe I expected a breakout player to be Culpeper by perigee. I think a key piece needed is a dominant disruptive OL eating DT, will make the whole back 7 better.
if the offense had been dialed back considerably mainly clifford’s reads, mistakes would have been reduced maybe the same outcomes but a lot closer
2 DTs in the portal I have no inside info but what’s up with that? Spence (?) leaving felt like the biggest impacts to me our and brought the whole d play down. Our LBers are talented but they need space. Maybe I expected a breakout player to be Culpeper by perigee. I think a key piece needed is a dominant disruptive OL eating DT, will make the whole back 7 better.
Coaching the team the basics and fundamentals during the week so they play well with few mistakes on Saturday. Coaching on game day so they execute each play similar to what they practiced. That is a coach’s job. You can’t stand their the whole game with your arms crossed and not coach players.
You obviously never watch Alabama football games.
The team was actually ranked 11th in terms of least penalty yards per game. Not sure you can use that stat to link to poor coaching.
Which game did he stand with arms crossed and not coach players for the entire game?
Losing to OSU and Iowa no disgrace this year. Taking care of the ball and a little more solid D and they would have beaten IN, MD and Nebraska. That's how you get to 5 losses.
2nd half of the season is the PSU team we would have seen if they had their normal 4 nonconference games to get ready for B10 play.
You just have to take a mulligan on this year. The expectations were unrealistic given the coaching changes and how many young players had to play -- without covid, this was a 10-3 type team, OK but not great season.
They have 11 win potential for next year. The way the young OL, running backs and receivers are coming along, this team could get back to a 40-ppg scoring average. And they will need it because the D has a lot of questions on the D-line and in the secondary.
2nd half of the season is the PSU team we would have seen if they had their normal 4 nonconference games to get ready for B10 play.
You just have to take a mulligan on this year. The expectations were unrealistic given the coaching changes and how many young players had to play -- without covid, this was a 10-3 type team, OK but not great season.
They have 11 win potential for next year. The way the young OL, running backs and receivers are coming along, this team could get back to a 40-ppg scoring average. And they will need it because the D has a lot of questions on the D-line and in the secondary.
And which games did the camera stay on Franklin the whole game and he stood there and didn’t coach his players? Saban is very stoic and occasionally gets upset...hardly the jump around kind of coach. Franklin got criticized by the geniuses on this board for getting too pumped up and celebrating with his players, now he’s getting criticized for being too calm. Please be consistent with the complaining.
I am not responsible for such comments so you need to quit projecting your disagreement with them on me. You are unable to consider any criticism of Franklin as valid and feel you must defend him regardless of how truthful they are. It is always the fault of the players according to you, the coaches have nothing to do with their performance.
There is such a thing as shared responsibility. Did you always blame your players for your mistakes? Or were you without error?
actually, if you look at some of the games we were trailing at half, we were still even or up in these statistics. we generated a lot of yardage and TOP without commensurate points. on the others side we gave up several (I believe it was 5) def TDs to our opponent. easy points. I could not find a field position stat, but I would not be surprised to see our avg starting position much worse than opponents.
Your key phrase is shared responsibility....something the posters on this board know nothing about. Go back and look at posts after every loss we’ve had under Franklin and all the negative posts blame Franklin for the loss. If we get blown out, it’s because Franklin didn’t have them ready to play, if we lose a close one, it’s because of clock management or play calling. If we had more talent and lost then it’s Franklin being a bad game day coach. If we had less talent and loss, it’s because Franklin isn’t a good enough recruiter or doesn’t coach them up enough. Yes, coaches make mistakes, but if the team is in a position to win and they blow it, that’s on the players.
It's premature to say this team has 11 win potential next season when we don't know which players are returning. We already know that Friermuth, Simmons, Oweh, Shelton, Brisker, and Tarburton are leaving but others are likely.
QB: We know what we have with Clifford & Levis
RB: Lee and Holmes looked good for freshman. Don't know about Ford & Cain.
OL: I assume Menet is gone. Don't know about the others.
TE: In good shape with Strange & Johnson.
WR: Not the strongest group this year and we don't know if Dotson will return.
DT: Shelton and Culpepper are gone. What about Mustipher? Not much depth there.
DE: Oweh & Simmons are gone and I assume Toney will be gone too.
LB: I assume all will return
S: Brisker is gone and I assume Wade will follow. What's left? Sutherland?
CB: Porter, Ellis, and Wilson return. It would help to see Castro-Fields return.
I recall Franklin saying that kids should leave if they are projected to be drafted in the first two rounds but return if they are lower than that. For whatever reason our kids seem to leave earlier than that.
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Yes, shared responsibility. SOME on coaching, some on players. You seem to take offense if someone hints that Franklin made a mistake. He has made a lot of them which form a pattern over the years. They were made even more obvious by a 0-5 start. Did he just decide to step it up mid-season and start doing his job?
Bad season. Poor coaching, poor execution. Shared responsibility.
I’ve said in multiple posts that Franklin has made mistakes and every coach does. And yes there’s a pattern, a pattern of winning 11 games a year. You asked if he decided to step it up mid season....well, did he suddenly forget how to coach at the beginning of the season? None of us know what was going on or what caused the horrible start. I will guess though that after 42 wins in four years, he didn’t just forget how to coach, so my money is on he didn’t handle the Covid situation very well.
who recruited these players that don’t listen? I’m a Franklin fan but in college football the coaches get to pick their players. So it’s on them if those players are type of people/players that don’t listen or can’t comprehend
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It was hard not to notice that as the season progressed and the team played better, JF became increasingly animated and involved with the players. It culminated in the rather intense sideline discussions with Levis and Clifford during the Illinois game.
I would be willing to bet he was dealing with depression in October.
Penn State somehow finished No. 2 in the Big Ten in total offense.
https://bigten.org/stats.aspx?path=football&year=2020
To pull that off on the backs of 2 true freshmen RBs, 2 true freshmen wide receivers and 2 freshmen tight ends with a QB who lost his shot, with a mix-match of new coaches teaching new concepts to players on zoom, that tells me this offensive system could eventually impose its will on Big Ten opponents.
https://bigten.org/stats.aspx?path=football&year=2020
To pull that off on the backs of 2 true freshmen RBs, 2 true freshmen wide receivers and 2 freshmen tight ends with a QB who lost his shot, with a mix-match of new coaches teaching new concepts to players on zoom, that tells me this offensive system could eventually impose its will on Big Ten opponents.
But that’s something you don’t find out until the season starts....so if you have too many, you can’t bench them all.
I for one certainly never said that during those seasons.
Last year's loss to Minnesota kept us out of the Rose Bowl. 2018's choke jobs to OSU and/or MSU kept us out of the NY6. Those were detrimental losses to the program.
This year's cluster of a season across the board isn't remotely similar. IU is 6-1, ranked #11 in the nation and playing in the Outback Bowl against a 4-5 Ole Miss team. Getting ran off the field by Maryland was gross to watch, but I don't really care now.
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Passing yards allowed is one stat that is misleading. On one hand, your defense stinks. No coverage or QB pressure.
On the other hand, it also can indicate that your offense is really good and scores a lot, putting the other team in a hole. Opponents have to ditch the run game to try and keep up on the scoreboard.
I could see that, but worth pointing out that OSU had the No. 1 pass defense in the country last year, whereas this year they rank No. 104.
NCAA Statistics
Red Zone Scoring
Turnovers (most importantly points off turnovers, you can’t quantify the momentum shift too)
missed tackles
i would imagine we were among the worst in all 3 during the losing streak.
What it resembles is poor gameday coaching decisions that we are paying $6 million a year for. Franklin must go!
