The Morning After

Revisiting and evaluating Penn State Football’s gut wrenching loss to the Fighting Illini 20-18 (9OT) the following morning

Now that a full 18 hours has expired since I watched whatever the hell that was on my tv during Penn State Football’s game against Illinois Saturday afternoon, has a full night’s sleep changed any knee-jerk reactions?

Let me first take you back to my original season projection from back in August. Here’s the full prediction.

I highlighted several areas that most Penn State fans would generally agree on based on James Franklin’s tenure with the Nittany Lions.

“What are some things we know about James Franklin led Penn State teams now that he’s entering his eighth year at the helm?
-His teams are generally very talented.
-The players play hard.

Anything else?
-They typically start off the year slow and get better as the season goes on.
-They typically start each game slow and are forced to make mid-game adjustments.
-Clock management is kind of, sort of a huge issue?”

Unfortunately we can now add three more items to the “Anything else?” section:
-Poor record coming off of a bye week
-Poor record following 1st loss of the season
-Inexplicable loss to a team every season

Here is the record of James Franklin lead Penn State teams coming off of a bye week:
0-1 L Michigan 18-13 2014
0-2 L Ohio State 31-24 (OT) 2014
0-3 L Michigan 28-16 2015
1-3 W Ohio State 24-21 2016
2-3 W Michigan 42-13 2017
2-4 L Michigan State 21-17 2018
3-4 W Maryland 59-0 2019
3-5 L Minnesota 31-26 2019
3-6 L Illinois 20-18 (9OT) 2021

And here is the record of James Franklin lead Penn State teams in games immediately after having 1st loss of the season:
0-1 L Michigan 18-13 2014 (following loss to Northwestern 29-6 – coming off of a bye – proceeded to lose four straight games)
1-1 W Maryland 31-30 2015 (following loss to Ohio State 38-10)
2-1 W Temple 34-27 2016 (following loss to Pitt 42-39)
2-2 L Michigan State 24-21 2017 (following loss to Ohio State 39-38)
2-3 L Michigan State 21-17 2018 (following loss to Ohio State 27-26 – coming off of a bye)
3-3 W Indiana 34-27 2019 (following loss to Minnesota 31-26)
3-4 L Ohio State 38-25 2020 (following loss to Indiana 36-35 OT – proceeded to start the season 0-5)
3-5 L Illinois 20-18 (9OT) (following loss to Iowa 23-20 – coming off of a bye)

So 3-6 following bye weeks and 3-5 in games immediately after having their 1st loss of the season.

Not great, Bob.

Oh, and the last item is a concern I raised when asking if Penn State was a team closer to 7-5 annually or the College Football Playoff.

The next season in which the Penn State Football Team does not lose a game it has absolutely no business losing under James Franklin will be its first.

Let’s dive into the bigger question at hand.