I'm a Penn State basketball fan. Most seasons, hope is all I've. One silver lining of being a fan of a staff that's, uh, missing most seasons is the sick satisfaction I get after they do beat a staff they shouldn’t. I get to take a seat again and watch the meltdown from opposing fanbases as they attempt to clarify to themselves why and the way their staff managed to lose to the Nittany Lions. This has, in reality, occurred a number of instances towards Illinois.
Never in one million years would have I've anticipated that the soccer staff would give me that very same satisfaction. For no matter motive, whether or not it’s as a result of happiness they felt by having a high quality staff, feeling slighted that they have been such underdogs, the false sense of safety from beating Kansas and Nebraska, or the foolishness in considering Penn State was one way or the other wherever close to near these two, Illinois followers have been mad this week.
The Fighting Illini contingent, throughout the span of the week, appeared to have gotten offended that:
- Their head coach put his foot in his mouth, once more.
- James Franklin took Illinois significantly sufficient to create a whiteout-like atmosphere.
- Penn State has an settlement with the NHL that forestalls them from labeling a number of video games as “The ‘official’ Whiteout.”
- Due to the brand new TV contracts, the Lions don’t know forward of time which video games might be night time video games and which aren’t, which makes choosing one earlier than the season difficult.
- No one, together with themselves, thought Illinois can be this good so far.
I instructed you what occurred within the sport within the different recap. Today, I’m going to deal with this.
I've zero downside with a fan base being proud or their staff. I've no unwell will (pun meant) towards the Illinois contingent. Their staff is doing fairly effectively this season, and may very well be bowl eligible effectively earlier than November. If issues fall excellent, they could even content material for the convention. I do, nonetheless, dislike projection. They took a perceived slight, blew it up effectively previous its expiration date, then acted like Petulant Children™ when the inevitable befell. It’s nice to have hope, however don’t let hope flip into vanity. Arrogance results in delusion, and delusion results in believing issues attainable that effectively, merely aren’t. Be blissful that your staff is doing effectively, however don’t invoice yourselves as one thing that you simply’re not.
It all is smart, if you consider it. When you attempt to clarify James Franklin’s historical past at Penn State, the phrase “excuses” get thrown round in a short time. Whatever you wish to name what he inherited doesn’t change the truth that James Franklin, when he took over the Nittany Lions in 2014, discovered himself with half a scholarship roster. It took Franklin 5 seasons to even construct a roster balanced sufficient to compete, but he overachieved with the band of misfits he had in 2016. A roster that couldn’t afford any busts had lots alongside the way in which, and, routinely, it led to clunker after clunker, the place Penn State would lose video games that they had no enterprise shedding.
This was after all attributed to not the rebuilding job Franklin had in his fingers, however as a substitute to his capability as a coach. It wasn’t an imbalanced roster that led to a revolving door of offensive coordinators. It wasn’t the shortage of depth that led to being unable to run the ball or cease the run when two of your greatest gamers went down within the fourth quarter of a sport you have been up two touchdowns in. It wasn’t the circumstance that led Penn State to backside out throughout a worldwide pandemic. It isn’t your bias that brings clock administration blunders from 9 years in the past and pretends they’re nonetheless taking place. It isn’t, after all, your hope that Penn State, with its mediocre coach, stays the hill that's nonetheless surmountable, within the face of the M and O formed mountains which are too tall to climb.
The insistence that this course of is a training deficiency over a protracted rebuild has created this course of in of us the place they, seeing all of the upsets of the previous, consider that that is who Penn State is. That they'll lose to only about anybody within the convention (or the nation*), and never within the “any given Saturday” selection, however the “James Franklin will give the game away” form. Well, if this Saturday, and the a number of Saturdays within the earlier two seasons are any indication, Franklin is just not all in favour of handing the sport away.
Penn State has misplaced loads of gamers to damage this season. But they now have the standard depth to compensate. The Nittany Lions have confronted challenges from surprising locations already, having to depend on their offense to mount a comeback, and so they coached their method right into a win. Penn State has accomplished what you need them to do, for a staff hoping to compete for the College Football playoff. But folks caught prior to now, consider, or possibly hope, that boneheaded James Franklin exhibits up once more, the one we haven’t seen in years, and items a sport to a staff that has no proper to win it. Sorry buddies, you’re going have to strive tougher transferring ahead.
I had no intention of even acknowledging this in an “official” matter. But I couldn't ignore the double customary any longer. This racist curious phenomenon, the place individuals are way more essential of James Franklin for doing the identical factor as different coaches in his tier is preposterous —there may be, in spite of everything, a coach within the new Big Ten with a shared prime 10 win towards the identical staff in the identical season, their “only” massive win, who's billed as a prime 5 coach and his staff a nationwide title contender.
Meanwhile, James Franklin is one way or the other missing, reached his ceiling, or no matter different tropes come out, as a result of he does precisely what different coaches do. I’m going to talk on to you, Penn State followers: Don’t let folks persuade you that James Franklin is a foul, mediocre, or no matter, coach as a result of he, the black man, will get judged way more harshly than his white counterparts. Don’t cut back his tenure to the few video games towards Ohio State and Michigan he didn’t win. Franklin is a superb coach who has elevated his program to the purpose the place the Illinois’s of the world can’t compete. Don’t let folks inform you that’s not ok. The Ohio States of the world might be conquered in due time. The Michigans of the world have been conquered lots, earlier than, effectively, you recognize. We’ll see what occurs with the USCs and Oregons of the world, however for now, Penn State is without doubt one of the few groups within the nation that has the privilege of getting a one- or two-game season.
There are 14 different groups on this convention alone who would kill for that.
*I’m staring within the course of Morgantown as I write this
