"The reality is that we have gone from an average football team to a good football team to a great football team. We have worked hard to do those things, but we are not an elite football team yet," was what James Franklin famously said as he opened his postgame press conference against Ohio State six years ago following a 27-26 loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes at Beaver Stadium.
"As hard as we have worked to go from average to good, and from good to great – the work that it's going to take to get to an elite program, it's going to be just as hard as the ground and the distance that we have already traveled," he added.
"Right now, we are comfortable being great. I am going to make sure that everyone in our program, including myself, is very uncomfortable because you only grow in life when you are uncomfortable. So, we are going to break through and become an elite program by doing all the little things."
Six years later, Penn State remains a great team, there is little doubt about that.
While few Penn State fans want to hear such on a Sunday after the Nittany Lions lost their eighth straight to Ohio State, it's the truth. Few programs have had the level of success that the Nittany Lions have had since the 2016 season.
Since 2017, Penn State owns a 10th best record in college football by win percentage only behind, Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, Notre Dame, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon, and James Madison.
Furthermore, since the start of the 2022 season, the Nittany Lions are 28-6 only behind Georgia, Michigan, Oregon, Ohio State, and Alabama.
For the most part, since the 2022 season, the Nittany Lions have realistically played at a different level compared to where they were from 2017 through 2021. They beat who they should beat, and they lose to who they should lose to.
Despite the offensive struggles over the last two seasons, the Nittany Lions since 2022 almost always beat the teams they are favored to beat, a 28-1 record. The lone loss was last year's Peach Bowl against Ole Miss. However, the Nittany Lions are also 0-5 since 2022 when an underdog. Those five losses? Ohio State, Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan, and Ohio State.
That being said, Penn State is still on the long and winding path to being elite. Now in year 11 of the James Franklin era, the Nittany Lions' leader holds a record of 3-13 against top ten teams (with Penn State, 3-18 overall) and a 4-16 record against Ohio State and Michigan.
It's fair to wonder if the Nittany Lions, with James Franklin, will ever reach that ultimate destination of elite status. But until they reach that destination or fall from their lonesome cliff on the climb to elite, there's no way around it, Penn State is stuck in purgatory.
Most programs, as James Franklin commonly says, would die to be in the position of the Nittany Lions winning 10 and 11 games most seasons, which is the truth.
If the Nittany Lions take care of business the rest of the season, against four opponents they'll likely be double-digit favorites against, the program will have it's third-straight 10+ win season and the sixth of the Franklin era all since 2016.
An 11-1 season would also mark Penn State's first regular season of 11 or more wins since 2008 and just the fourth overall since the 1994 season. It would also be the first time since 1980-1982 seasons that the Nittany Lions would have three-straight seasons of 10+ wins.
Both would be great accomplishments overall but for a fanbase that aspires to be more than just great, the 10+ win seasons that see the Nittany Lions continuously come up short against Ohio State and to a slightly lesser extent Michigan, have left them hungry for more.
However, the sense of being in purgatory for Penn State is all too new.
As longtime Penn State beat writer Neil Rudel pointed out on Sunday morning via X, Penn State's struggles under James Franklin against top five opponents just isn't a James Franklin problem.
Joe Paterno also struggled in the big games historically in his career with the Nittany Lions.
Over his illustrious career, Paterno owned just a 14-33 record against top five opponents and outside of a five-year run from 1981 and 1986 that saw the Nittany Lions go 9-4 against top five opponents, Paterno was 5-29.
However, while Paterno's programs struggled in similar circumstances, they also found a way to eventually breakthrough winning a pair of national championships in the 1982 and 1986 seasons.
Most would also argue the 1994 Nittany Lions should've added a third national championship to the program's trophy case as well and was robbed of one in favor of Nebraska.
But while it's been nearly 40-years since Penn State's last national championship, the expectation from the fanbase remains firmly to be a national championship contender on a regular basis.
It's also an expectation shared by Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft.
"We all come to Penn State to win national championships," Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft said in a recent interview with Yahoo! Sports's Ross Dellenger.
" I know (James Franklin) doesn’t run away from it. I sure don’t. It’s why I came here and why we’re investing. You don’t come to Penn State to be mediocre."
Ultimately, this all leads to the question of, how does Penn State escape this purgatory and breakthrough and truly be among the nation's elite?
Ultimately, this all leads to the question of, how does Penn State escape this purgatory and breakthrough and truly be among the nation's elite?
For much of the early part of Franklin's tenure, the Nittany Lions head coach often referred to how the program needed more investment from the university to catch up to the rest of the pack.
For the most part Penn State has checked all their boxes in that regard. The meeting rooms, weight room, locker rooms, dining facilities, training tables, and more have all been upgraded. Beaver Stadium is also in the midst of a $700m facelift.
In the years prior to the arrival of university president Neeli Bendapudi and athletic director Pat Kraft, the alignment of the university presidents, athletic directors, and Franklin was far from aligned.
Now, it's a near perfect alignment and the university as a whole appears to finally be understanding what level of investment is needed within the program.
Perhaps the final major hurdle for Penn State is in the NIL space.
There's no denying it's an area that the Nittany Lions will have to continuously improve on going forward. As Dellenger states in his interview with Pat Kraft, Penn State feels they are in a very competitive spot within the NIL landscape.
However, while it may be competitive in the grand scheme of things, there is still plenty of work to be done for the Nittany Lions to reach the NIL levels of those programs that they are in behind in the pecking order on a national level, the likes of; Georgia, Michigan, Oregon, Ohio State, and Alabama.
Of course, just like in any other sport, money doesn't necessarily result in championships, but it surely helps.
It's no surprise that the top four teams in college football this season Oregon, Georgia, Ohio State, and Texas have are among the leaders in NIL nationally.
Perhaps the upcoming revenue sharing model that is expected to come to college athletics will help slightly level the playing field but it's not going to make everything equal, not by a long shot.
Will Penn State have a better opportunity to compete in the transfer portal for game changers? Sure, but it won't automatically lead to more success either.
However, while nearly all the off-the-field shortcomings for the program have been resolved over the years, one can only take a look at what happens between 160 feet from sideline to sideline.
It's all too often in the Ohio State and Penn State series that the Nittany Lions routinely fail to execute at the biggest moments. At one point or another, players must execute.
In Penn State's most recent loss to the Buckeyes, one could argue that despite calling a rather questionable game as a whole, Nittany Lions offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki put his offense in good enough spots to win the game. He got the Nittany Lions to the red zone three times and twice to the goal line.
If Penn State executes those possessions at the goal line, the Nittany Lions win on Saturday, two goal line trips, zero points. It's that simple. That is where the game was decided.
Again, the play calling was questionable, but the elite teams find ways to make plays.
They make the catches on the edge of the redzone on well-placed passes and they find a way to get the push on the goal line. Even if it's only inches on each play, those elite teams find a way to get their tailback into the endzone on four downs when three yards away.
Penn State's defense still had an opportunity to get the ball back for the offense and give them favorable field position. The Buckeyes were pinned on their own goal line with five minutes remaining. It didn't have to be a three-and-out, but the Penn State defense had to find a way to get off the field.
But in what was a flashback to the Michigan game last season, Ohio State dared Penn State to stop them on the ground and the Nittany Lions simply couldn't.
While they got Ohio State into two third down situations, the Buckeyes would convert on both with little resistance including a Will Howard keeper on 3rd and 3 in the final minute that iced the win for the Buckeyes.
While as much as the Nittany Lions' wide receiver room continues to receive scrutiny, it was the program's offensive and defensive lines that when they needed to dig deep and find a way to win in the trenches, were instead bullied by Ohio State.
"They had a championship drive right there at the end," James Franklin said when asked about his defenses' play in the series.
Perhaps one day, Penn State will find a way to dig deep and win the battle in the trenches when they need to the most and put together a championship drive of their own in those situations.
But Saturday was not that day and as the dust settles, James Franklin and Penn State's record against top five teams and against Ohio State is what it is. You are only as good as your record shows.
While James Franklin and his coaching staff deserve credit for ultimately getting the program to where it is today, it also must take the blame for the routine lack of execution in these key spots and games as a whole.
Yes, they were able to execute earlier this season, all against inferior opponents. But when it comes to executing against the teams that are perceived and by results have proven to be better, the Nittany Lions all too often fail to execute in the big moments.
While the record shows Penn State is a great program, it also clearly shows they're not an elite program.
For Penn State, they'll have a chance to resolve potential doubts about their program and its ability to win the big games and ability to execute in the big games later this season in all likelihood.
If Penn State wins out the rest of the season, which they should and as recent history suggests they will, the Nittany Lions will host a home playoff game at Beaver Stadium in December and likely will be favored in that matchup.
But after Saturday's setback and the Nittany Lions' offense averaging just 16.25 points in their last four games against top 12 teams, it's fair for Penn State fans to also wonder if a home playoff game is just setting them up to once again be disappointed.
But until Penn State once again gets that opportunity to prove their doubters wrong, it will leave many Nittany Lions fans disgruntled and even despondent regarding not just the program's immediate future but also the future long term.
It also will leave the ultimate question left to be unanswered:
"When will Penn State finally win the big games, and will they ever reach their elusive goal of achieving elite status?"
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