Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1015973
T H E M O N T H I N . . . O P I N I O N S FANTASTIC CUISINE EXCEP TIONAL ATMOSPHERE Colleg W ve Av . College & Cato carnegieinnandspa.com | 814.234.2424 Corner of C Corner of Cricklewood Dr. and Toftrees Ave. carnegieinnandspa.com | 814.234.2424 . Colleg W. 814.861.3463 gigisdining.com ve Av . College & Cato 814.861.3463 gigisdining.com Even though Penn State must replace some of its best players and leaders – Barkley and Mike Gesicki, DaeSean Hamilton and Marcus Allen – it's hard to debate Franklin when he assessed his roster and decided Saturday, "We're in a good place." On and off the field, for now and the foreseeable future. NEIL RUDEL ALTOONA MIRROR In most things, the better you are, the harder it is to get better. But the pecking order in college football in 2018 is not fluid. There really is that elite top shelf of programs for which it's news when they're not in contention for a berth in the CFP. They are Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson and (I would argue) Oklahoma. Then there's a recog- nizable gap, then a pack of a dozen or so programs. That's where Penn State is now. Can it make the leap? Probably not this year. In 2017 the Nittany Lions had Saquon Barkley, Mike Gesicki, DaeSean Hamilton, Joe Moorhead, Marcus Allen, Jason Cabinda and Tyler Davis on their side. This year they don't. The schedule is a little tougher, mostly because Wisconsin is on it. Penn State will be good again, but this doesn't seem like The Breakthrough. MIKE GROSS LANCASTERONLINE.COM Those lamenting the departure of Saquon Barkley seem to forget the Heisman Trophy contender still in Happy Valley. McSorley has won big at every level of his career. ESPN.COM ALL SPORTS Nittany Lions ninth in Yahoo Sports survey Penn State's athletic program has been ranked among the nation's top 10, ac- cording to a 7ve-year survey compiled by Yahoo Sports. The Nittany Lions ranked No. 9 among the nation's 65 Autonomy Five institu- tions, according to Yahoo Sports. The survey incorporated the 7nal results of the past 7ve Lear7eld Directors' Cup rankings. Penn State has 7nished in the Directors' Cup top 10 three times in the past 7ve years, starting with a No. 5 7n- ish in 2013-14, followed by rankings of 8, 20, 8 and 12. This past year marked the 19th time in the past 25 years that Penn State posted a top-15 Directors' Cup 7nish. Penn State is one of only nine institutions na- tionwide to have 7nished in the top 25 in all 25 Directors' Cup 7nal standings. ■