Lions need to run table

and finish with 11-2 mark

By Neil Rudel

I think it’s pretty simple.

Win out to finish 11-2 and serve notice this could be a team to be reckoned with for the Big Ten championship and a berth in the College Football Playoff next year.

On one hand, you can say it’s been a bounce-back year from the 11-11 mess of the last two seasons, but those were in no way the Penn State standard.

Sweeping November would get the Lions to 10-2, but they don’t have a win to really brag about, and none remain on the remaining schedule. The Nits can’t afford to stub their toe now and have anybody feel great about their progress.

Both Purdue and Auburn aren’t turning out to be, in the words of the late Dennis Green, “who we thought they were.”

Purdue is 5-4 and last week lost to offenseless Iowa, 24-3.

Auburn is worse at 3-6, losers of five straight and having already fired its beleaguered coach, Bryce Harsin.

The Lions’ other wins came over Ohio (7-3), Central Michigan (3-6), Northwestern (1-8), Minnesota (6-3) and Indiana (3-6).

The most impressive of those was a domination of Minnesota, but the Gophers were minus their starting quarterback.

The Lions’ losses were a 41-17 thumping at Michigan and a come-from-ahead 44-31 setback to Ohio State, which was probably the team’s best overall effort of the season, save the inability to once again finish off the Buckeyes.

Penn State will be double-digit favorites to win its remaining three games — home Saturday with Maryland, at Rutgers on Nov. 19 and the home finale vs. Michigan State on Nov. 27.

That’s why it’s important to run the table and win a bowl game, not just get there.

A bowl game should give the Nits a chance to beat a team more their equal — perhaps Oregon in the Rose Bowl, maybe Clemson in the Orange or an SEC team in the Citrus — and if that happens, surely this year would be considered a success.

But they could also wind up in the Cotton Bowl against somebody from the Group of 5 like Tulane, which would be all the more reason the Lions would need to win to make this year an unqualified success.

Franklin is 3-4 in bowl games so it wouldn’t hurt to pull that mark to .500, either.

There are definitely reasons to feel some optimism about where the program is headed.

Sean Clifford will (presumably) be moving on and giving way to Drew Allar, who the fans are more excited about.

Even the offensive line, finally, seems improved.

There are skill players galore who have contributed significantly this year, and Franklin has done a good job recruiting and rebuilding his roster after early departures — this year Olu Fashanu and Joey Porter will most likely go and we’ll see about anybody else earlier than expected (Brenton Strange, Mitchell Tinsley, Juice Scruggs).

The future is bright, but it will look even better coming off an 11-2 mark in 2022, which would be a real success.

Rudel can be reached at nrudel@altoonamirror.com.

Rose or Orange Bowl bid

will surpass expectations

By Cory Giger

How good is Penn State? Do we know yet after nine games? Will we know at all this regular season?

No, we really won’t.

The Nittany Lions are probably going to go 10-2, and it will be about the most hollow 10-2 record in major college football. No wins over ranked teams and losses in the two most important games of the season.

Think about that — a 10-2 record without a single signature win.

But you know what?

Big deal! Because that 10-2 record — as hollow as it might be — likely would get Penn State to a New Year’s Six game, and possibly even the Rose Bowl.

That is what would make this a successful season — the destination of the bowl game and a big-time opponent, with a chance to pull off an enormous signature win.

If the Lions go to the Rose Bowl, they might play Oregon or USC.

If they go to the Orange Bowl, they could end up playing Clemson.

Yes please, to either of those scenarios.

There could, however, be a gigantic disappointment of going 10-2 and slipping to the Citrus Bowl. That would be against a lesser opponent — maybe still a name program but not a highly ranked superpower kind of team.

So, in essence, what I’m getting at here is bragging rights. And think about the bragging rights James Franklin could earn if he’s able to get to and win a Rose Bowl or Orange Bowl.

Yes, to be perfectly clear, winning 10 games would be a good accomplishment for this team. I picked the Lions to go 7-5, so they have clearly outperformed my expectations. Then again, I didn’t expect all of the opponents outside of the big two to stink so badly, and therefore to make Penn State’s 10 wins seem rather pedestrian.

Any time a team wins 10 games in major college football, it should be applauded. And Franklin will deserve credit after slumping to an 11-11 mark the past two years.

But think about how much leverage Franklin could earn if he gets to a Rose Bowl. And then wins it!

Goodness, he might be able to give the folks at Penn State a blank check and say, “Give me all the money I want for the football program.”

He already got his 10-year contract and $85 million for himself. Now, he wants unconditional support 365 days a year from everybody at Penn State, and quite frankly, he didn’t deserve that after the 11-11 disaster of the past two seasons.

But if Franklin can go back to the boosters and Board of Trustees after getting to a Rose Bowl or Orange Bowl, there is no way anyone on campus will be able to deny or withhold support.

Even though Penn State still wouldn’t have a signature win, Franklin would have a signature accomplishment with a New Year’s Six bowl and another top 12 finish.

The spoils of all that would significantly benefit Franklin and the program going forward, and would make this a hugely successful season despite no real quality wins on the field.

Cory Giger covers Penn State for DK Pittsburgh Sports and hosts “Sports Central” weekdays from 4-5 on WRTA. He can be reached at cgsports12@gmail.com.