Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1541276
1 6 D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 5 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M They Said It PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS "The Nittany Lions lost for the fifth straight game. Penn State mustered just 200 yards of offense, and every coach whose name has been mentioned to fill James Franklin's vacant office space is getting a hefty raise and exten- sion. [Ohio State quarterback Julian] Sayin, who looks young enough to get carded when buying tickets to a PG movie, carved up Penn State's veteran defense, throwing more touchdowns (four) than incompletions (three)." — David Hale, ESPN.com writer "Penn State batted .333 on portal wide re- ceivers, all now over halfway through their final one-and-done season at PSU. That average will get you into Cooperstown. But in big-time college football, it will also help get your coach fired. After battling injuries early in the season, Devonte Ross (Troy) has flashed consistently at wide receiver, while Trebor Peña (Syracuse) and Kyron Hudson (USC) have not." — Mike Poorman, StateCollege.com colum- nist "Penn State has struggled mightily on defense since linebacker Tony Rojas suffered a season- ending injury before the UCLA game, but Sat- urday was arguably its worst performance yet. The defense under Jim Knowles has been predi- cated on forcing opposing offenses into long drives and banking on them making mistakes. But on Saturday, it was giving up everything to Ohio State through the air." — Centre Daily Times writer Jon Sauber fol- lowing the Nittany Lions' loss to Ohio State, in which it surrendered 316 passing yards and 4 touchdowns "Florida is No. 1, LSU [No. 2], Penn State No. 3. I think it's a little harder to recruit right now, just because the population shift has gone down South. You can't just say Western PA and Philadelphia and New Jersey. That's where they used to get their players. So, I would go: Florida, LSU and Penn State." — FOX Sports analyst Urban Meyer, ranking the attractiveness of the high-profile Power Four head coaching jobs that were open as of Nov. 1 "One of the main reasons that Penn State is widely considered to be the third-most-ap- pealing head coaching vacancy on the market, trailing LSU and Florida, is simple geography. LSU and Florida have more fertile recruiting bases in their backyards, and that means that at their best, their respective ceilings are higher. "If Franklin does land in Blacksburg and carves into Penn State's recruiting grounds, that could further complicate things for the Nittany Lions." — Josh Yourish, Victory Bell Rings, on the possibility that James Franklin will find himself recruiting against Penn State if he becomes head coach at Virginia Tech "Elko, who has Texas A&M off to an 8-0 start, certainly would fit the PSU program, given his roots and how he spent the first 15 years of his coaching career in the North- east, mid-Atlantic or Midwest. Elko might be deciding between two well-resourced pro- grams. The difference is that Penn State has accomplished way more on the field than Texas A&M has and is now clearly striving for national titles. … Being the coach to elevate a historic underachiever is enticing. Elko also has followed college football for decades. He knows that outside of Ohio State and Michigan, Penn State has had fewer barriers to success over the years, including no rival like Texas in the same state." — Adam Rittenberg, ESPN.com, citing Texas A&M's Mike Elko as the best fit for Penn State's head coaching job "We're in the middle of the storm, and we just can't figure out how to get out of it. The seniors are hurting. I feel awful for those guys to end their ca- reers this way. It's very challenging. It's challenging for all of us, but we have to figure out how to keep fighting. We're going to keep chopping wood. The one positive of the game, these guys did not quit, and that's a testament to who they are. We've just got to figure some other things out." — Interim head football coach Terry Smith following Penn State's 38-14 loss to Ohio State