Not hard to see Campbell is bulking up in the trenches like many have wanted for years...
- Thread starter Bwifan
- Start date
Well: Either the facts lie, or that contention is nonsense.
Ranked teams played:
1966-1969:
PSU 8 (Michigan 9, OSU 9)
1970s:
PSU 31 (Michigan 26, OSU 30)
1980s:
PSU 40 (Michigan 42, OSU 31)
Total:
PSU 79
Michigan 77
OSU 70
I still don’t agree with the other poster that it’s the president that makes this decision, but again, from reputable insider sources elsewhere James was back to demanding raises, but this time he was denied and started becoming a bit toxic about it. He also was not an alignment with Kraft on NIL and did not set up a real GM office as Kraft instructed. Dollars were handed out more so on a loyalty basis than a production basis, and a number of the player families found out about it causing further issues in the locker room. James had the dollars to land a real DT and WR in the portal for the 2025 season and decided not to do it.
I’m not sure OSU and Michigan were too respected either. They routinely got trashed in the Rose Bowl. Regardless, not my opinion, but that was the general opinion of that time that East Coast football was trash and we had easy schedules back in the 60s and 70s.
I don’t know why Kraft said that publicly but he absolutely did. Acted like a freaking amateur. As I have said frequently, I don’t have a problem with Kraft firing Franklin but how about acting like a professional and simply thank Franklin for his service and say it was time to move in another direction?
Agreed. Though I don't think "acting like they belong" among the group of OSU, Michigan, Oregon etc is "asking too much".
Given what PSU spends, expecting to be "in that group" should be the minimum expectation.
Now, the jibber about "National Championships" being the standard? That was just inane.
There are what - around 70 P4 programs, and about 25-30 at least (especially given the buy-a-team system in place in present-day college football) who are positioned such that they can reasonably be assumed to be "capable" of a MNC run sometime in the next so many years?
And exactly - let me check my math (LionJim?) - ONE of them can win it in any one year? The odds - for even a "Michigan, OSU, Oregon - and Penn State" level team - to win a National Championship in the next 5-10 years is rather slim.
That is "tailgate-drunk fanboy" type talk. Probably won't age well.
Agree. Heard account similar to yours from a good source. No indication that the firing was initiated by Bendatpudi, but it's a fair guess that she signed off on it.
Yep, The chance that the move was initiated by Dr B are approximately 0.0%
Been a PSU fan for 55 years and my father was a PSU fan as well. And they played none of those teams in 68, 69 or 73 other than Pitt and they were only ranked once and that was #20. Selective memory can be a curse.
Their bowl games in three of their undefeated seasons were against Kansas, Missouri, and a 13th ranked LSU…not exactly a juggernaut. If they had to play one of the top three teams in the country every year I don’t think he would have had as many undefeated seasons.
Army, navy, air force, temple, Maryland, Syracuse, wvu, Rutgers, Pitt and a random Mac school.
It appears that PSU has taken the Walt Disney approach to improvement....."If you wish upon a star...."
And Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, were all juggernauts in the 70s and 80s?
Joe's record in Bowl games was outstanding and he beat excellent teams to cap off the 3 undefeated seasons. Were the schedules extraordinarily difficult in '68, '69 and '73? No. But it wasn't like every team we played had a losing record until our bowl game opponent either. Other team's schedules were not that great either. The B10 was a joke in the late 60s through the 70s. Joe lost to OSU in '75 and '76 then beat them on the road in '78. Then beat them again after the 1980 season. I would say that is competitive and clearly being on their level. And he didn't get a shot vs Bo Schmuckbechler but I wonder who would have out coached who if Paterno played Schmuckbechler back in the 70s and 80s?
Look at the 80s and no one could touch Joe. Two national championships and playing great intersectional games, ND, Bama, Nebraska all while enjoying considerable success. We had one of the toughest schedules in the country in the 80s.
You have no idea whether this would be the case you just hope it would be.
All the offensive players listed were recruited by Franklin. You omitted the 280lb starting center recruited by Campbell.
0 wins vs Bear Bryant. We dont count wins vs non top 10 teams using the same metric you used for Franklin.
Would have had many more? Let's not get carried away. Possibly one or two. It's apple and oranges to compare then versus now.
Except now they have size and strength. The idea is to impose your will on the defense and punch them in the mouth. Not the garbage finesse smaller players JF used. Now also the favorites of JF won't be played over better players. The best players will play. Looking forward to this season.
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Maybe Franklin’s behind the scenes behavior was so bad and grating that he deserved it at that point?
Your pattern of defending Franklin has become quite noticeable.
Care to share your reasons?
What? So the only top 10 teams Joe played were against Bear Bryant? So Joe never beat Bear Bryant. That means....what? Are you now invalidating all the big wins Joe had? You are so off in never never land if you think Franklin and Joe are comparable in big games. Go follow Va Tech.
Size does not automatically equal effectiveness. Time will tell.
That Bear was the man. Much as we all loved Joe, The Bear was the greatest coach of his era. There's no shame in that, Joe was great too.
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I watched enough PSU football in the last 55 years to have a pretty good idea this would be the case. He had a losing record in his career against top 10 teams, so playing every year against a top three team would result in more losses.
He had a losing record in his career against top 10 teams, so it’s not just Bear Bryant.
Exactly. Franklin’s undersized DL held Jeanty to 104 yards in 30 carries in a playoff game while Scatebo ran wild against ISU in the only conference championship game Campbell coached in his decade there. Frankly, I can’t think of a single coach who doesn’t play favorites. Maybe bwifan can explain why Campbell brought in his QB from ISU which resulted in Grunk, who had better numbers albeit in more limited playing time and more eligibility, leaving if he doesn’t prefer playing favorites.
Franklin did have two players who were overpaid. I am sure that will never happen again with Campbell. Saracasm.
Most likely he will have two this year.
Is there any outlets listing team NIL compensation?
If Cousins, Goodman, Harbor or Donkoh have bad years it will be Franklins fault they bulked up.
Didn't the OL bulk up last off season too? Most of them drop back down once camp starts.
I believe we all know that. A change in the makeup of the DLs is required. The smaller DLs in limited numbers PSU was fielding could not consistently hold the line in the 4th quarter against the top tier teams. This is a change in defensive approach which hopefully keeps the LBers cleaner to make tackles and limits the opposition inside running game.
You know the answer. Becht played injured in 2025 and was very limited. Becht was brought to PSU to help the team win in 2026 because he knows this offense. Grunk was welcome to stay and learn, compete for 2026 backup and then start in 2027. If Grunk had stayed then Manske MIGHT not have transferred to PSU. I fully understand Grunk wanted to start this year but he had a few starts in a different offense. I'm in wait and see mode. I believe it will work out for PSU.
I’m not sure we all do know that based on some of the comments.