It has gone downhill ever since Gattis left. Corley, Parker, Stubblefield,Hagans. Just hasn’t worked. Couple that with the fact 3 OC in 5 years.
The morning after…
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I remember looking at the scholarship roster maybe 5 to 10 years ago. It was an embarrassment of riches. Those guys would have loved the transfer portal.
Halftime adjustments.
On the defensive side of the ball, did we spend too much time devising a plan to neutralize their backup QB's pocket passing capabilities only to have ND reinsert Leonard as their QB and essentially play smash mouth football.
We allowed them to establish a level of physicality that up until that point of the game they were not able to assert.
I'm really not interested in going back and rewatching that portion of the game but I was wondering if we changed anything schematically?
On the defensive side of the ball, did we spend too much time devising a plan to neutralize their backup QB's pocket passing capabilities only to have ND reinsert Leonard as their QB and essentially play smash mouth football.
We allowed them to establish a level of physicality that up until that point of the game they were not able to assert.
I'm really not interested in going back and rewatching that portion of the game but I was wondering if we changed anything schematically?
You blame Franklin for that? GTFOH! The guy has placed tremendous faith in Allar. He was let down.
I saw him compared to Todd Blackledge, who had really one good season.
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Poor situational awareness at the end of games is a constant. This game. The big ten champ game. The Indiana game in 2020. The Rose Bowl against USC was lost literally the same way as last night. Forced throw picked off setting up the game winning field goal.
We beat ourselves a lot. How come no one we play ever seems to beat themselves at the end?
If you really want to have the pitchforks out, Coach K ought to be part of the discussion. Coach K's gadget stuff got a lot of attention and was fun to watch early in the season. The guy was anointed by the sports media as some kind of guru and his offense was called a big success based on very limited data.
But as the level of competition went higher, it seems to me Coach K never came up with a passing game that Allar was comfortable in and that the receivers could execute.
And that -- not razzle-dazzle plays -- was what Coach K was hired to do.
He will be at PSU one more year. I hope he can do better next year.
I don't think PSU is going to be in the game for top tier wideouts until there is a new starter at QB.
I just don't think Allar has ever been as good as people think he is. The five stars just follow the guy around but at some point you have to face up to the fact that his mechanics are not good, his throwing is sometimes brilliant but highly inconsistent. And he is just not good throwing from a pocket with pressure if he can't scramble out.
I really like the guy, he's a warrior, you can see how hard he's worked, and he has improved a great deal. But he is still a long way from being a top-tier college QB let alone an NFL prospect. His physical limitations are part of it -- he has really done a great job working on his mobility but he's just not quick in anything he does -- not running, not decisionmaking, not releasing the ball.
Coach K really needed to take inventory of what Allar could do well early in the season, and design a passing offense around that, instead of hoping that Allar could do things he really can't do. Instead Coach K seemed to just want to do Coach K stuff, which fed into the "Coach K is a genius" narrative but didn't help PSU very much.
There simply HAD to be a way to design a passing game utilizing the wideouts. I simply do not believe that PSU's wideouts are the sole reason why PSU had not a single catch by a wideout in a playoff game. It's QB limitations and it's offensive coaching limitations.
But, back to my previous point, given PSU's very obvious offensive limitations, it's incredible this team was a TD away from playing for a national championship.
That is something we should all celebrate. PSU had a season way better than this team really warranted given its limitations. And that is a credit to hard work, good leadership, awesome play at the line of scrimmage, and great coaching (thank you Coach Franklin!).
Not only were they a TD away from playing for a national championship but they were a TD away from being undefeated, BIG champions, the number one seed in the playoffs, and ranked number 1 for a long stretch of the season. If they had just one top drawer wide receiver (say somebody like Dotson, Godwin, Engram, etc.) we could have been that team. I really don't think we know how good Allar is since he has never played with decent wide receivers.
Well, Gattis is free these days, isn't he? I know there was some falling out there but a reunion with Franklin might not be the worse thing in the world... (though he probably would want an OC position)
This was a very disappointing aspect of the game. Not sure I've ever seen a team dominate the line of scrimmage like we did defensively in the first half and then have the script completely flipped. And that is after ND lost two starting offensive linemen. Our defense to open the third quarter was pathetic and it looked to me like we thought the game was over and we were up by 28 instead of 7.
I hear you. That's why I mentioned that perhaps Allen and co. focused on negating the skill set of Angelli. He is a pocket passer and provide ND with a spark that led to their 1st points of the game.
Coach can't let his team get complacent particularly when the scoreboard does not matchup with how we physically were dominating the game.
It has been a long time since I uttered those words about a PSU football team against a legit quality opponent.
Damned baby steps ....
why do you think Franklin is an "ass"? Just curious on your perspective. It certainly wasn't bad coaching that cost PSU the game last night. And while Allar made some plays, I certainly wouldn't say he played a "heckuva game otherwise" last night. The team that made the least mistakes won. And that was your Irish.
Go Buckeyes (or Longhorns) - beat the Domers! Sorry, just can't bring myself to root for the team with one of the most obnoxious, self entitled fanbases in the country (I know tOSU fans are right up there, but they can't touch ND). Plus, I want the team that is in a conference, like almost everyone else, to win the title.
Lastly, why is Franklin any less likable then Freeman? I don't see it, so maybe it depends where your loyalties are. I agree that Freeman is an impressive young coach, but I don't see Franklin as an ass.
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Its personal opinion of course. I just don't like his personality or energy. Just rubs me the wrong way I guess. I do believe there was an element of bad coaching decisions involved. Halftime adjustments. It was really a tale of two different games. PSU dominated and man handled ND in that first half by a large margin. I saw everything I needed to in that first quarter to believe it was going to be a route. I was very worried about this going into it with all of ND's injuries and being on a bit of a shorter rest after the Georgia game. But ND was a different team in that second half and the adjustments and plan was much better. I don't think thats a case of players suddenly not executing in the second half.
I think Allar for the most part played well enough to win that game. But, I will say ND's secondary has been very good all season. Allar, your TE and a couple backs can't carry the whole game without WR support, which as you know was non existent. Both teams played pretty mistake free. If anything, those PI penalties on ND were huge and converted to points for State. ND lived off take aways all year and PSU didn't give them any.. until the last minute.
When PSU got the ball after ND tied it with 4:30ish to go, I was hoping for (but certainly not expecting) PSU to send out the 6 OL, 3 TE package used earlier down by the goal line.
Look ND square in the eye and say:
“Here we come. Power football. It’s what we do best. Are you good enough to keep us out of field goal range for the next four minutes?”
Look ND square in the eye and say:
“Here we come. Power football. It’s what we do best. Are you good enough to keep us out of field goal range for the next four minutes?”
We will see. How do you think PSU will fare against OSU.. oh wait, we already know that answer for upteenth year in a row and we won't find out because they'll be on the couch watching on TV.
I love all the conference whining State fans do about Notre Dame. Lets to realistic here. They have the toughest path to and through the playoffs, unless they're lucky enough to get a seeding like PSU did this year and play SMU and Boise. They can't be any better than the 5 spot because the conferences bought the top four spots. They won't get a bye.
ND doesn't care about conference nonsense. Seriously.. whats the point of conferences and a championship game when the playoffs let both the winner and loser in anyway?
USC this year did for what it's worth. At least we won that game. Have to admit that at the time it was a nice win for Franklin.
Small consolation now.
To me the thing about Franklin is I understand there was nothing glaring about decisions he made last night that killed us. Players didn't execute in key moments. It happens. However there is a disturbing pattern of that happening time and time again in these big games. Why is that? Does he not have them mentally ready for the moment? Why does Drew Allar have his worst game when he plays his biggest game? Trace McSorely, a clutch player, melts down in the final minute of the Rose Bowl. Why? Players change, coordinators change yet Franklin is the constant.
We are now and have been a program that just cannot get that elusive program defining win. This ineptitude has now dragged on for years across multiple games. I am convinced we have a mental block when we get into these close games. Just cannot make winning plays. That is the players, that is Franklin because he is their leader.
Next year I can just about guarantee it, we will be in the game vs OSU in the 4th quarter in Columbus and somehow someway we will find a way to lose. It is just what the program has become.
USC did and they're not a top 10 team. I was talking about the top 10 teams we can't beat. We can't beat them because we make mistakes and they don't.
Next season hinges on Oregon first and foremost. We see them 5 weeks before the Buckeyes, and at home. Going into Columbus is very different from a pressure standpoint depending on if they have a W over the ducks or an L.
It's definitely a mental block. I think they're running out of ways to potential fix it without a change at the top.
Would you take 10 more years of Franklin if you knew we'd never win another game we weren't favored in? But we'd never lose one we were?
Did you watch the joint press conference Wednesday? At times Frankin was insufferable and sanctimonious. Just rambling on, trying to be funny. Freeman was all business; Franklin was in car salesman mode.
I think you are right that we are creeping up on a time for PSU football that we may need a change at the top to get over this big game block. For whatever reason Franklin cannot get it done.
To answer your question; No. I would not take 10 more years of losing these toss up games or where we are an underdog yet we win the games we are favored in.
We need that signature win that can catapult the program and Franklin cannot get it done. Just incredible that he just consistently finds ways to lose.
Who hired the WR coach and recruited the WRs?
Better alert Krafty because that is in Franklin’s JD.
He was a/the top rated WB coming out of high school .
Another swing and miss by Franklin!
That's the difference between this game and some of the "big games" last season. Against ND, I felt the team was well prepared, the coaches had solid game plans, and the team was set up to win instead of just "hoping" to somehow win. This one wasn't on Franklin IMHO.
Let's be honest. We got gifted the easiest path to the semifinals that anybody could possibly imagine. And in the regular season, our signature win was beating Illinois.
We won 13 games and got to play 16. Yes. But we had a deceptive season in that sense. Peel back the onion, and we lost all the big games. SMU and Boise? Please. Akin to Memphis in 2019. A good win, but not anything that will strike fear into the hearts of rival fan bases.
A very good season. But another season missing the most important component. Which is why the narrative didn't move an inch.
I'd had an MRI of my prostate scheduled for this morning for 3 months so I had the day off.
Only thing more appropriate would been a colonoscopy....
Only thing more appropriate would been a colonoscopy....
I agree. All hail the God of Overrated Choke Artists, Lord Franklin. He and his Merry Band of Dimwits can do no wrong.
We're approaching a point where its just going to become stale. The mindset clearly permeates the program and every additional loss re-enforces. If you're not getting better, you're getting worse, and we haven't really gotten better one season to the next since 2021->2022
It’s no longer about the specific game. It’s in aggregate. Losing any one game is whatever, someone has to lose. Losing every single time save for once over a decade, the nuances of the individual contests begin to become less and less important. The losses compound when you’re suddenly well over a dozen.
Yep we lose all of them except one. You would think the law of averages would kick in but nope. Ineptitude. And that one ended up being a day late and dollar short because we already had two losses and were effectively out of the playoff before that game kicked off.
I’m thinking it will be a long time to see the series of events that led to this year’s playoff run.
They opened with 2 easy wins against weak teams most thought shouldn’t have even been in the playoff. They were pretty much gifted a spot in the final 4.
I have a feeling it’ll be a long time before we see those cards fall in place like that again.
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