Blue White Illustrated

W hen the College Football Playo9 committee issued its 8rst top 25 poll on Nov. 5, it appeared as though Penn State had a great opportu- nity to take the next step in the pro- gram's development, having earned the No. 4 spot in the rankings through eight games. The path to the playo9 was plain and simple: The Nittany Lions needed to win their last four games of the regular season, then beat the West Division champion, most likely Minnesota, in the Big Ten Championship Game. If they did all that, no one could argue that they hadn't become an elite football program under the leadership of James Franklin and his assistant coaches. But the Lions lost their next game, falling to Minnesota, 31-26, on the road on Nov. 9. While they went into their game against Ohio State on Nov. 23 still in control of their Big Ten destiny, it was harder to make the case that they were on the verge of a breakthrough. The game against the Gophers had come down to the 8nal seconds, and Penn State appeared to be driving for the go- ahead score, but a crucial o9ensive pass interference penalty torpedoed their comeback. The narrow loss followed other near- misses in 2017 and '18, seasons in which Penn State su9ered one-point defeats vs. Ohio State that sent it spiraling out of title contention. The loss also revived the skepticism that some people have harbored even as Penn State has re- turned to the national stage. Those peo- ple wonder whether Franklin and his assistant coaches will be able to lead the Nittany Lions to a CFP appearance someday. I'm not one of those people. In fact, I'm convinced that if Franklin and his sta9 can keep recruiting the way they have done the past three years, there will be enough pure football talent on hand to make Penn State a legitimate playo9 contender in the seasons to come. And if that does indeed take place, PSU will once again be consid- ered an elite program and will have a chance to re-establish itself as one of the true blue bloods of the Football Bowl Subdivision. But there are some aspects of the pro- gram that over the past three years have prevented Penn State from taking that 8nal step to elite status. Winning the Big Ten title will require much more than having an abundance of four- and 8ve- star prospects on the depth chart. Tal- ent alone won't get the job done. The ability to perform at a consistently high level will require both talent and mental preparation. Players and coaches alike must have total con8dence that they will be able to confront and overcome any challenge that they're presented with on the 8eld of play. Three years ago, Penn State proved that it was capable of beating Ohio State, winning the Big Ten East Division title and then going on to claim the Big Ten championship. With losses to Pitt and Michigan that year, the CFP com- mittee felt that the Nittany Lions weren't deserving of the fourth spot in the playo9 8eld, giving that position in- stead to Washington, which ended up losing to No. 1 Alabama in the semi8nal round. What infuriated Penn State fans more than anything else was that Ohio State ended up being the No. 3 team in the playo9, despite its head-to-head loss to the Lions. The victory over the Buckeyes ultimately wasn't enough to overcome the team's two losses, but it did vault Penn State into contention for the play- o9, and that, in my opinion, is one of the key takeaways from the Lions' unsuc- cessful 2016 playo9 bid: If they want to take the next step in their development, they'll need to build the kind of team that can defeat Ohio State in any given year, and then they'll need to go out and do exactly that. Let's face it, by winning the inaugural playo9 in 2014 and domi- nating the Big Ten's East Division in the years since, the Buckeyes have earned the respect of the CFP committee. Beat- ing them is the way to get everyone's undivided attention. The way the Lions played against Ohio State in their back-to-back one-point losses in 2017 and '18 tells me that they weren't 100 percent convinced they were capable of getting the job done. In both of those games – on the road at the Horse- shoe in 2017 and at Beaver Stadium the following year – Penn State essentially had two-touchdown leads at around the eight-minute mark of the fourth quarter and wasn't able to hold on. I 8rmly believe Penn State had enough talent on the 8eld to win both of those games. But as coaches will tell you, learning how to win the big game is the most di:cult process to complete. It's a mental barrier that has to be overcome more than just once. Just ask Michigan, which has lost 13 of its past 14 games to Ohio State. The Nittany Lions still need to develop that sense of belief in themselves. Since Franklin took over the program in 2014, the Lions have gone 1-8 against ranked opponents on the road. That lone win occurred earlier this season when they defeated 17th-ranked Iowa at Kinnick Stadium. In the eyes of the CFP com- mittee, that fact alone keeps Penn State from being an elite program, one that would merit inclusion in the playo9 PHIL'S CORNER These improvements will help the Nittany Lions take the next step

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