"Cotton Bowl Champions" hat
snugly atop his head, Michal Menet
sat at his Cowboys Stadium locker
looking concult given
the results they have accumulated dur-
ing the past four seasons.
With its win in the Cotton Bowl, Penn
State improved to 42-11 since the start of
the 2016 season. Its winning percentage
during that span – 79.2 – is ;?h-best
among Power Five programs, trailing
only Clemson (55-3; 94.8 percent), Ala-
bama (51-5; 91.1), Ohio State (49-6;
89.1) and Oklahoma (47-8; 85.5).
The Nittany Lions' margin of victory
since 2016 – 17.3 points per game –
ranks fourth behind only Alabama
(26.9), Clemson (26.4) and Ohio State
(24.0). Three times in the past four sea-
sons, Penn State has gone unbeaten at
Beaver Stadium, producing a cumulative
home record of 26-2.
And, maybe most indicative of the
Lions' ascent to the upper echelon of
college football powers, they are 39-4 as
favorites during the past four seasons.
This season alone, they were the betting
favorites in 12 games and underdogs only
once, in a road game against eventual Big
Ten champion and College Football
Playo= participant Ohio State. This, of
course, during a season that had been
branded as a rebuild before it ever
started.
Bucking that narrative in 2020, the
Nittany Lions needed practically no time
at all to start looking ahead following
their victory over the Tigers.
"I think it's really good for us to kind of
catapult us into the o=-season," Menet
said. "Coming o= a win, I think it will
make us even more hungry because we
know we had two losses this year, two
big losses. So I think to have that win
kind of motivates you a little bit more to
look back and see where the breakdowns
were.
"I think it's really good for us, and I'm
just happy to get a win. A champions
ring looks a helluva lot better than not."
With the Cotton Bowl win serving as
another a>rmation of their trajectory,
the Nittany Lions will spend the next
eight months preparing themselves to
reach even greater heights. They have
not been particularly subtle about an-
nouncing their aspirations. Even head
coach James Franklin got into the act in
his postgame remarks. Praising the team
for its success this season, he, too,
couldn't help but turn an eye toward the
future.
NEVER SATISFIED
The Lions are hungrier than ever after wrapping up
an 11-win season with a Cotton Bowl victory
JUDGMENT CALL
Four days after Limegrover was
dismissed, Penn State announced
that Trautwein had been hired to
take charge of the offensive front
after spending the past two seasons
in a similar role at Boston College.
This past season, the Voorhees,
N.J., native oversaw an offensive line
that allowed only 11 sacks, the third-
fewest in the FBS. In addition, Boston
College averaged 267.8 rushing yards
per game to rank fifth in the FBS. All
five of the Eagles' starting offensive
linemen won All-Atlantic Coast Con-
ference honors, including a first-team
selection (John Phillips) and two sec-
ond-team choices (Zion Johnson and
Ben Petrula). In 2018, BC's top line-
man, Chris Lindstrom, won All-
America honors after allowing only
three quarterback hurries and no
sacks over the course of the season.
Lindstrom was chosen 14th overall by
Atlanta in the 2019 NFL Draft.
Trautwein (pronounced trout-wine)
reportedly had received interest from
several Southeastern Conference
schools before accepting Penn State's
offer. As an undergraduate at Florida,
he twice won All-SEC recognition,
including first-team honors as a sen-
ior in 2007. He went on to spend four
seasons in the NFL with the Rams,
Browns, Saints and Chargers before
beginning his coaching career as a
graduate assistant at Boston College.
From there, he headed to Davidson for
two seasons as tight ends coach and
special teams coordinator, then re-
turned to BC as offensive line coach.
Now, he's continuing his fast ascent
with the move to PSU.
"Growing up in New Jersey, I was al-
ways a fan of Penn State," Trautwein
said. "It was the best academic and
athletic university in the country
then, and it remains so today. My
family and I are grateful Coach
Franklin has given us the opportunity
to join the outstanding staff he's as-
sembled. I could not be more excited
to continue building the best offensive
line in the country, and to help bring
championships to Happy Valley."
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