Indiana is not a revenge game for Penn State Football … Why loss was launching pad

Inside how James Franklin’s offseason rebuilt Penn State

After skipping out on a bowl game invitation, the Nittany Lions dove head first into the transfer portal, something Franklin seldom did before this winter.

Kicker Jordan Stout was his biggest portal addition previously.

Before we turned the calendar to 2021, Franklin had already landed John Lovett and Arnold Ebiketie via the portal. Franklin would go on to land three more players, all of which had an impact thus far this season, with three of them; Ebiketie, Eric Wilson and Derick Tangelo starters.

Franklin then made his boldest move of all, replacing offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca after only one season, bringing in Mike Yurcich to handle play calling duties.

This move, especially after finding out from Franklin himself that Yurcich has long been his white whale, is not all that surprising. What is surprising however, is that Franklin has been known to be loyal, almost to a fault at times, and to ditch Ciarrocca after only one Covid impacted season? It was clear he was not messing around in this “critical” offseason.

The Penn State Football head coach would also go on to add Anthony Poindexter as the co-de1fensive coordinator in bringing him over from Purdue, as well as attacking the recruiting trail, landing what is now the no. 1 ranked recruiting class in the country for 2022.

These changes and Franklin’s urgency this offseason most likely do not come about if Penn State Football hangs on to beat the Hoosiers last season. If you prescribe to that notion that the overtime loss in Bloomington derailed the season, and bled over into losses to Maryland and Nebraska, then none of these offseason changes likely happen if not for the outcome in that one.