Penn State is within reach of a special regular season, but it’s hard to tell with some fans

Penn State is on the verge of doing something that it hasn’t done in more than 40 years.

The Nittany Lions can post three straight straight 10-win seasons for the first time since 1980-82 with its next two victories.

It would be their sixth season with double-digit wins in nine years, the best such stretch since the program’s golden era from 1977-86.

Yet some in the sellout crowd of 110,233 at Penn State’s annual White Out Game last week booed coach James Franklin before the Lions trounced Washington 35-6 to improve to 8-1.

Those folks were still smarting from another loss to Ohio State a week earlier, the Lions’ 10th in Franklin’s 11 seasons. Granted, his record against the Buckeyes besmirches his accomplishments during his tenure.

Penn State, however, is in position to go 11-1 in the regular season for the first time since 2008 and to host a first-round home game in the expanded College Football Playoff.

Sometimes that seems to get lost in all the teeth-gnashing about Ohio State.

The Lions don’t have a win over an opponent ranked in the Associated Press Top 25, although Illinois was 19th at the time of Penn State’s 21-7 win in September. Neither do Texas or Indiana.

But they’re playing a more challenging schedule in the first year of the 18-team Big Ten, which is deeper than it used to be.

“The Big Ten is not the Big Ten that we always remember,” Franklin said earlier this week. “Like the SEC (Southeastern Conference) is no longer the SEC that we all remember.

“When you bring these teams in and you increase the competition week in and week out, this is not your grandfather’s Big Ten. This is not your father’s Big Ten and the same with the SEC.”

Penn State has had few breathers in conference play and few opportunities to create depth.

The Lions’ 35-6 rout of Washington last week was only the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/penn-state-within-reach-special-044700498.html

Author : Reading Eagle, Pa.

Publish date : 2024-11-13 04:47:00

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