UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — This was not supposed to be the way Penn State’s season went.
On paper, it was supposed to return to the College Football Playoff after a semifinal appearance last year.
On the field though, it has not nearly lived up even close to any of those lofty expectations, let alone remotely coming close to exceeding even just one goal to start the season aside from three early wins.
Now, a team projected to be a national championship contender is on the cusp of playing in a bowl game way sooner than New Year’s Day, if it makes a bowl game at all.
The writing on the wall has been there for quite sometime dating back to last year when Penn State were not dominating games in games they should have been, dominating such as managing only 27 points against UCLA, squeaking out a 3-point win at USC, not reaching 30 points against Wisconsin and winning at Minnesota by one.
Struggles have been aplenty this season and the red flags many thought were just due to vanilla play calling and easy early season opponents were bona fide bright red flags and have seen Penn State lose three games in a row, two as 20+ point favorites.
The best the Nittany Lions have done is regress and that’s up front where they were allegedly as deep as they’ve ever been.
It’s been at quarterback where Drew Allar was supposed to be the first one taken in the 2026 NFL Draft. Now, his college career is over due to injury.
It’s been on Nicholas Singleton who has been an non-factor in a two-headed running back monster once considered among the best in the country. Fortunately Kaytron Allen has handled his business and pulled away as the guy atop the depth chart.
The portal receivers were once heralded as saviors to an offense who did not believe in a pass to anybody but Tyler Warren last season.
It’s been on a defensive unit that was superb in many ways last year, but under Jim Knowles has faltered under a new system not generally tailored to this roster’s strengths.
For James Franklin and his program, this is the fever pitch, the moment where it’s not known whether he will be leading the team out of the tunnel next week. There are 56 million reasons why he will still be in charge, but what was once a cold seat has now turned blazingly hot and fast.
In fact, it’s going to continue to get uglier and fast with Allar’s season ending with his ankle injury. It doesn’t get any easier with a trip to face Iowa and Ohio State on the horizon plus a contest against an Indiana team which beat Oregon Saturday.
Franklin has hired this highly priced staff and recruited all of the talent, but when teams like Northwestern and UCLA want to win more than a team like Penn State, it falls right on the head coach and deservedly so. When reality and expectations don’t align, it’s a source for some serious problems and that’s where this program is right now.
Franklin was different with the media and understandably so. He was pressed about whether he is the right guy for the job and for most of his tenure, he has assumed the role well save for a season in 2020 everybody wishes didn’t happen, but he was even more deflectiv e than usual in his response.
“I take full responsibility for what’s happened tonight,” Franklin said. “I take full responsibility for what’s happened this season, and I’m committed to the guys in that locker room over here.”
That’s all well and good, but are the guys in the locker room committed to him?
