I didn't calm down. I've been a PSU football fan for 50 years and this seems like the most depressing loss I've ever experienced. Back in the day we might have had 3 losses but I hoped for a good bowl game and a top 10-15 finish in the rankings. A bowl win would give me optimism for the next year.
I remember getting stopped 4 times at the goal line vs Alabama that cost us a NC. I remember 4-6. I remember being ranked in the top 5 and having a 17-6 lead over Iowa until Clifford got injured only to learn that we hadn't prepared a backup QB. But I could always hope for a brighter tomorrow.
But this game was different. We had talent but we weren't prepared to play. The coaching was the worst I can ever remember. We gave up an easy onsides kick because a player was in the wrong spot. We were behind 24-7 with 2 minutes remaining at the UCLA 47 and we didn't attack. 3 runs and a sack gave UCLA 3 more points. The announcers were flabbergasted with our play calling and clock management. We never put a spy on Nico and never tried one of our young LBs. We had a chance to win in the red zone and ran Singleton & Allar instead of our star RB who averages 7 ypc. Then we get a stop but don't rush the punter and let him take 8 precious second off the clock. We're the laughing stock of college football today.
I was looking forward to watching Indy vs Oregon next week but I no longer care. I'll watch PSU vs NW but that's it. At best we're probably 8-4 without Rojas. Maybe 7-5. Allar, Singleton, DDS, Harris, etc will probably opt out of the bowl game so it will be a disaster. All of the remaining players from the 2022 class will be gone next year and replaced by inexperienced kids from classes ranked 15th. It could take us 3+ years to make it back to a 12 team playoff. There's just not much to look forward to anymore.
I also have been a fan of Penn State football for 50 years. I remember being in Columbus in Sept 1975 with my Dad and being able to stand 5 feet away from the team bus as Joe Paterno got off the bus. What a thrill to see him up close. We lost that game 17-9 as Archie Griffin had a big day. The next season in 1976 my Dad got season tickets and that officially kicked off a life long passion for Penn State football that has not subsided to this day.
I was there yesterday in the Rose Bowl. The same Rose Bowl where I sat on January 1, 1979 because we had a family vacation to Southern California that year. I had to hear the brutal announcement that day from the PA Announcer...."A final from the Sugar Bowl, Alabama 14 Penn State 7". That score brought me to tears. We would get redemption and I was in the Super Dome in New Orleans the night of Jan 1, 1983. In front of us and many loyal Penn State fans, Todd Blackledge completed a TD pass to Gregg Garrity. The key play in Penn State's win that night and along with Pete Giftopolous's interception 4 years later in the desert in Tempe are the two biggest plays in Penn State football history.
Back to yesterday. I am sitting there in the Rose Bowl, a sun soaked, picturesque Southern California day watching the first half and could not believe the complete and utter lack of heart and intensity the team played with. To say the defense was listless is a huge understatement. UCLA and Nico marched up and down the field. Our defense had no clue. Had we practiced? Did we care? At 10-7 I thought okay now we take charge. Nope. Well at least it will be no worse than 24-10 at halftime and we can make it 24-17 or 24-23. Nope we inexplicably give them a 20 pt lead at the half.
I moved sections for the 2nd half hoping that a change of scenery admist more vocal Penn Staters and closer to the action would change our fortunes. Reynolds fumbles. Are you kidding me!? But wait we actually get a stop and then a missed FG. Okay disaster averted. Then a TD and a blocked punt for TD! All of a sudden there is energy and life!
Still 7 minutes left in the 3rd quarter and it is 27-21. Finally this is it. It took us way too long but at last we are taking control and will roar back for a win. Nope.
This defense could not get a stop if it's life depended on it. How do you seize momentum like that and then just fall flat on your face!? Nico goes back, oh wait there is 30 yards of open field in front of him, here comes a white shirt but they just bounce off him as he keeps running and running and running! Ridiculous!
Then we finally do get a stop. Maybe this nightmare will turn out okay. 39 seconds 4th and 2 and at their 9 and we...do well and I don't know what that was. I didn't even know Kaytron was not on the field. Of course we don't block on the play. Of course the play call was laugh out loud bad circa Miles Sanders up the middle vs OSU in 2018.
And that was it. Well we did let the UCLA punter eat a sandwich before having to step out of bounds. And then run a swing pass for 0 yards.
Horrible loss but the bigger picture is how duped I feel. I drank the Kool Aid and went back for seconds and thirds. I thought we legitimately could win the NC. Last weekend's loss was a gut punch and had me seriously questioning how good this team was but yesterday...yesterday just had me flat out embarrassed about the Penn State football program. This team is essentially a fraud. We were never going anywhere. Why? I don't know. Overrated for starters. After all we never beat a really good team last year and we lost our two best players so you have that. For some reason no player has improved and many have regressed. For some reason we lose Tony Rojas and the defense is in shambles.
I will watch versus Northwestern because that is what I do. I will watch versus Iowa and yes even the impending slaughter versus Ohio State.
What I do know is in the matter of 7 days James Franklin has created a major problem for Pat Kraft. The crown jewel of the Athletic department, the huge money maker is now in disarray. We have a leaderless leader at the helm who is incapable of getting the team to recover from a tough loss and be prepared to play football. Let me say that again this way. We have a football coach who gets paid $10 million a year, has $50 million left on his contract and he is incapable of getting his team ready to play a football game against a team that had not won a game. Is that not a basic part of his job description? Boy does that Sugar Bowl win on Jan 1, 1983 seem like a distant, distant memory and one that we will never achieve with this current coach.
I don't know what Kraft's next move is. I am confident Franklin is going no where. He is not accepting some kind of buyout unless it is a $50 million buyout. PSU is not paying that. They simply are not doing that. James Franklin is not taking another job. First of all, who is hiring him!? I posted here that I thought maybe he could go to Va Tech but now I see he won't do that. Why would he do that? Why would they do that? No, our dear friend James will be here next year and the next year and the next year as he continues to disappoint. His buyout is simply too much. I think we are looking at 2029 before anything happens. Meanwhile we need to suffer through big game loss after big game loss and other head scratching losses. Given our recruiting over the last few years by a supposed "great recruiter" and our uncanny ability to blow key games, we can't realistically expect to be a playoff team much less a contender to win it all. Unhappy times in Happy Valley.
