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involved, as all of its opponents were able to play, too. But just because the Lions were able to play the first three-quarters of their slate as scheduled doesn't mean that health concerns haven't weighed heavily on them. The team was beset by a suc- cession of false positive COVID tests in October and November, and it has had to carry on without several of its most im- pactful players. Micah Parsons opted out in August citing concerns about the pandemic and a desire to focus on the NFL Draft. Journey Brown had to give up football due to a heart condition. Noah Cain suffered a season-ending injury on the first offensive series of the opener. Pat Freiermuth played hurt for much of the year before undergoing season-end- ing surgery in late November. Tariq Castro-Fields disap- peared for unspecified rea- sons. And those are just the boldface names. The list of players who have missed time goes on: Cam Sullivan- Brown… Keaton Ellis… Zack Kuntz… Ta'Quan Roberson… Charlie Katshir. Coaches often talk about having a next-man-up attitude, but attitude only gets you so far. At some point, losses of that magnitude are going to catch up to you. And if the 2020 season is unusual in terms of the sheer volume of attrition Penn State has endured, it's also an out- lier in Franklin's body of work. With the loss to Iowa, which dropped Penn State to 0-5, he was guaranteed only the sec- ond losing season of his career. Before the 2020 campaign, Franklin was aver- aging 8.9 wins per year in nine seasons as a head coach. His average at Penn State was 9.3 wins per year. Given the sample size, you have to believe that the Nittany Lions will find a way to regroup. Eleven-win seasons don't happen by ac- cident, and Franklin has put together three of them since 2016. And yet, there are some disquieting signs that can't be denied. This year's team was supposed to be one of Franklin's best at Penn State. Even with Parsons, Brown and Cain out of action, the roster was still loaded with more four- and five-star prospects than each of PSU's first five opponents, save Ohio State. The 2017 class was rated 12th nationally by Rivals.com, the 2018 class was fifth and the 2019 class was 11th. Those classes were all ranked among the best in the Big Ten, giving the coaching staff a formidable talent stock- pile to work with. And yet the Nittany Lions were run off the field in the first halves of their first five games. It may not be entirely fair to draw a straight line from recruiting success to on-field re- sults, but those two variables are not unconnected. When you see an oppo- nent that you've consistently out-re- cruited taking a double-digit lead into halftime, it raises concerns. When you see four opponents doing that, those concerns are amplified. Something else that gives pause is the 2021 schedule. It does not have "bounce-back season" written all over it. Penn State is set to open at Wiscon- sin, and week three will feature a visit from Auburn. The Lions can likely count on wins against Ball State and Villanova, but in addition to their trip to Madison, they will also face Iowa, Michigan State, Maryland and Ohio State on the road. They get Michigan and Ohio State on back-to-back weeks in November. Still, the recent victory over Michigan, in which it ran 79 offensive plays with- out a turnover, was a reminder that the Nittany Lion team that fans expected to see this year is still in there somewhere. "We battled, we made plays when we needed to make plays," Franklin said. "It's hard to stop people on fourth-and- inches, and we did that. We just played gutsy, and that's who we've been. There RELIEF PITCHER Levis finished the game in place of Clifford at Ne- braska, as the Nit- tany Lions rallied in the second half but couldn't pull off a victory. The redshirt sophomore started the following week against Iowa. Photo courtesy of Penn State Athletics >>

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