Blue White Illustrated

September 2019

Penn State Sports Magazine

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P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> decimate a top-five East Division oppo- nent, as the Boilermakers rocked No. 2 Ohio State, 49-20. But those losses notwithstanding, the East has been the Big Ten's standard bearer, and its ascendance has not been particularly surprising. Michigan is, after all, the winningest program in college football history, with 953 victories all- time, and Ohio State is second with 911. A third East Division team also ranks in the top 10, as Penn State enters the 2019 season in ninth place with 887 wins. The winningest West Division program is Nebraska, which is tied with Notre Dame for sixth place with 897 victories all-time. After the Cornhuskers, the next- winningest program in the West is Wis- consin in 35th place with 705 victories. Penn State coach James Franklin alluded to that historical record when he was asked at Big Ten media days about the league's failure to secure a spot in the playoff the past two years. All programs experience transitory ups and downs, Franklin said, but the traditional powers tend to experi- ence more of the former than the latter. By clustering so many of its best programs in the same division, he contended, the league may be hindering its chances of producing an undefeated or one-loss team. "Look at how the divisions are, how the divisions are broken up right now," Franklin said. "I think the East is very strong and has been very strong for a number of years. I think obviously you can have the argument that over history there's ebb and flow, but if you look at the East, it's pretty strong [annually], proba- TOM ALLEN INDIANA We don't plan to run a two-quarterback system. Obvi- ously, it's happened in the past, and it's been successful at other places, but the plan now is to pick one and let him be the man. As I mentioned before, we'll go into fall camp and make those deci- sions, but I really believe in each one of those individuals, and they all have their unique skill sets and strengths that they bring to the table. And they're all a little bit di=erent, but they all have the ability to throw the football and ex- tend plays, which is a key ingredient to what we're trying to accomplish o=en- sively. CHRIS ASH RUTGERS As we went back and looked at 2018 like we did at the end of the season, it was wasn't a lot of fun. When you're 1-11, things are di>- cult. I own it, and the good thing is that we can control our future. We're the ones who determine whether we're going to stay there or move forward, and I'm really excited about our foot- ball team, the way they've responded, the way they've worked, the way they've come together. I'm excited about what we can show on the

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