Penn State Football: Closer to 7-5 or College Football Playoff?

Road To Glory #5

OSU has to take a massive step backwards

And now we’re finally getting to the elephant in the room.

In college football there are only so many 4* and 5* players. And if Penn State is going to take the next step forward it’s going to begin and end with recruiting. So does this mean 5* players will be magically created and placed in the player pool so both Penn State and Ohio State can continue to land 6 5* players each class?

Nope.

Ohio State will have to finally get unlucky and get several recruiting classes wrong or not sign the best assistant coaches or not have the right head coach.

And since the ousting of John Cooper back in 2000, the Buckeyes seem to find gold everywhere they look.

With the hiring of the sweater vest in 2001 (Jim Tressel), to the tattoo artist memorabilia fiasco that ended his career, then the unsuccessful Luke Fickell experiment in 2011, to pulling Urban Meyer out of retirement, then the unsurprising end to Urbz’s tenure, and onto the future with Ryan Day.

Each time it seems like Ohio State is going to take a step back, they take a lateral step, and then immediately take a step forward again.

“John Cooper can’t beat Michigan. I don’t care if he has a career record of 111-43, let’s can his ass and go with a lifetime coach at Youngstown State.”

Jim Tressel then proceeds to go 94-22, win 6 B1G Championships, lose in 2 BCS Championship games, and win the BCS Championship once.

A scandal then rocks Columbus and Tressel is sent packing so the Buckeyes scramble and hire Luke Fickell as the interim head coach. Heavy chinks in the armor appear as he goes a very disappointing 6-7 in his first year.

Is this when Ohio State finally comes back down to earth for awhile?

Not so fast.

Urban Meyer apparently spent enough time with his family after the Florida debacle and he’s ready to coach once again. This time at his dream school. And he proceeds to go 82-9 in 7 seasons with 3 B1G Championships, 3 college football playoff appearances, and a college football playoff trophy.

And now it’s Ryan Day’s turn. Since he’s been the head coach Ohio State has lost 1 game en route to a 23-1 record.

They just don’t seem to ever get it wrong. But at some point they will. And Penn State better be ready to pounce this time.

Recap

So there you have it. These are the main keys I see which are necessary for Penn State to go from a good program to an elite program.

It’s a huge ask, I know.

So here’s the question: Is it realistic for this to happen anytime soon?

You know what? Hold that thought. Let’s dive into the 2nd part of this article which details what would have to happen for Penn State to take a step back and regress into a perennial 7-5/8-4 program.