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This season is going to be weird and the lack of fans adds an entirely unique layer to trying to pick games. That aside, Penn State and James Franklin have gotten to a point where they ought to be given the benefit of the doubt more often than not. This team probably isn't good enough to avoid the hiccup in the middle of the road, or quite good enough in Week 2 to beat Ohio State, but there are worse things than that, especially during a year that nearly never happened. BEN JONES STATECOLLEGE.COM If anybody is going to unseat Ohio State in the Big Ten this season, it's Penn State. The Nittany Lions have the pieces in place to be a real factor in the national cham- pionship race. Their talent pool just keeps getting deeper under James Franklin. If quarterback Sean Clifford takes off in new offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca's system, and especially if star linebacker Micah Parsons returns after initially opting out, that showdown with Ohio State the second week of the season in Happy Valley looms as one of the games of the year. CHRIS LOW ESPN.COM The Nittany Lions and the rest of the Big Ten will be jumping into a college football season that will be well underway in the ACC, SEC, Big 12 and else- where. Franklin was adamant the main point of this condensed and unusual season will be to create opportunities for players looking to play in the NFL or just have a positive experience. But both the coach and [Sandy] Barbour said the team is not shying away from the goals it would have in a typical season, es- pecially with a squad ranked No. 7 in the country in preseason coaches and AP polls. MATT ALLIBONE YORK DAILY RECORD You can agree with the decision that Big Ten presidents and chancellors made Wednesday to have a conference football season this fall. Or you can disagree with it. But to call it "the darkest day in Big Ten sports history," as one national columnist did, is sensational at best and disingenuous at worst. Just as a re- minder for some context, this is a conference that has had sex abuse scandals at Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State. Big Ten presidents and chancellors reversed course after they decided to postpone fall sports to the spring semester in early August. They did so because daily antigen testing for COVID-19 became more readily available and because they learned more from their medical communities about the long-term effects of the coron- avirus. RICH SCARCELLA READING EAGLE When was the last time a Big Ten football player tackled anyone? Most of us, we had no spring practices, so there's also an aspect of that. We've got to get ramped back up to get some tackling in, because you can't go from last season to your first game and never tackle. JAMES FRANKLIN We're really asking our Penn State nation to cheer us on, have small home per- sonal pod watch parties. But do it safely. SANDY BARBOUR T H E M O N T H I N . . . O P I N I O N S PSU INCREASES RESERVE Despite un- precedented circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Penn State Inter- collegiate Athletics maintained revenues while reducing expenses, enabling the department to increase its overall re- serve balance, athletic director Sandy Barbour told the board of trustees' Committee on Finance, Business and Capital Planning during a Sept. 17 meet- ing. At the conclusion of the 2013 9scal year, the impact of the NCAA sanctions and loss of Big Ten bowl revenues drove the reserve balance down to approxi- mately $150,000. Through a combina- tion of investment strategies, expense-reduction initiatives and a steady climb in both traditional and new revenues, Penn State's athletic depart- ment had built its reserve balance to ap- proximately $15.76 million as 9scal year 2020 concluded. Penn State supports approximately 800 student-athletes across 31 varsity sports (16 men's and 15 women's), with more than 74 percent of those student- athletes receiving some type of scholar- ship support (367 full grant-in-aid equivalencies). The university's 31 var- sity programs rank among the 9ve high- est totals in the 130-member Football Bowl Subdivision. FRANKLIN ON WATCH LIST Penn State's James Franklin was named to the Dodd Trophy watch list in September. The list includes 18 of the nation's top college football coaches representing teams that are scheduled to play during the fall sea- son. The Dodd Trophy celebrates the head coach of a team that enjoys on-9eld success, while also stressing the impor- tance of scholarship, leadership and in- tegrity. The watch list was created through a selection process that took into consideration each program's grad- uation rate, commitment to service and charity in the community, projected success for the 2020 season and Aca- demic Progress Rate. ■ N O T E B O O K Q U O T E S

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