Penn State is going to have its highest preseason ranking in years, but for James Franklin, that won’t mean much.
“It’s a great conversation,” Franklin told reporters at Big Ten Media Days in Vegas Wednesday, “but who really cares about preseason rankings? They mean nothing. It’s a good argument to have and everybody has fun with it, but the only rankings that matter are the ones that happen at the end of the season, and that’s what we’re concerned about. The only way we’ll do that is by handling our business today.”
Considering Penn State made it to the semifinals of the College Football Playoff last season and returns most of its key players– Drew Allar, Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen on offense, Dani Dennis-Sutton, Zakee Wheatley and Zane Durant defensivley– its a good bet that the team will, at worst, be in the top three to start the year.
It might even be the preseason No. 1, which hasn’t happened since 1997.
But Franklin isn’t too worried about preseason rankings.
JAMES ON EXPECTATIONS
Here’s Franklin’s full response to being asked the expectations coming into this season.
“The way I would describe it is this, right? There’s a ton of conversations that are happening nationally, right? And we embrace that. We’ve earned that, based on what we’ve been able to do and what we have coming back. There’s a lot of people that are excited on a national level talking about us. But, the reality is, when it comes to the Lasch Football Building or when it comes to local (support), these are always the expectations at Penn State. We had what a lot of people would consider a really good season last year. We were a game away from playing for the national championship, and you could actually make the argument, a drive away from playing for the national championship.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.But it didn’t feel that way, right, because the expectations at Penn State are really high. So, we embrace that. I came to Penn State understanding that and knowing that. Our players did as well. So I think the conversations that you’re talking about nationally are happening, and we appreciate that, but it hasn’t really changed close to home. It hasn’t changed internally in our program because these are always our expectations.
NOW OR NEVER?
A guy named Elvis— who you might have heard of— once said, “It’s now or never.”
For many, that song applies to this year’s Penn State team.
As successful as Franklin’s tenure in Happy Valley has been– six double-digit win seasons out of 11, four New Year’s Six Bowl wins with appearances in five of the six– to win a national title, he’ll have to conquer dragons he hasn’t done a good job of conquaring.
James Franklin is 1-10 against Ohio State, has lost his last three games to Michigan and against top-five teams, is 1-15 at Penn State and 1-18 including his time at Vanderbilt.
At least one of those numbers must improve for Penn State to win a national title, and if Penn State can do it with this group, it’s fair to wonder if it’s possible.
