Blue White Illustrated

T H E M O N T H I N . . . I think Trace McSorley, a read-option guy who Franklin got to flip from Vander- bilt – or whoever is chosen to start at QB among the trio of likely candidates – will have a closer relationship with the head coach than Hackenberg did. Will that translate to wins? Not necessarily at all. It takes talent and acumen to succeed. A locker room full of rainbows and smiley faces is not the aim. And that's James Franklin's challenge as he enters Year 3 of his tenure. It does not matter so much whether the quarterback is or is not his buddy. DAVID JONES PENNLIVE.COM [Shoop] was the head coach at Columbia from 2003-05, posting a record of 7-23, and he'd like another shot. He can't be blamed for that. Franklin doesn't like los- ing coaches to lateral moves, but Shoop may figure a year or two at Tennessee, which just buried a Northwestern team Penn State couldn't figure out how to beat, could put him in a better position to ascend to a head-coaching position. And he may be right. Franklin's program is still clearly a work in progress with more uphill scaling ahead. While breaking in a new quarterback and almost an entire defensive line, next year could well bring a third-straight 7-6. Franklin knows the clock is ticking: He brought it up himself after the loss to Georgia. "There's an excitement that next year is the first year of post-sanctions when we'll be back to the 85 scholarships and have the depth and continue to be able to develop our guys," he said. In other words, time is about up on the excuse of the sanctions. NEIL RUDEL ALTOONA MIRROR I definitely think it has the potential to be big for him. It's just a matter of how he approaches the off-season. We're all ready to get back to work. We're going to watch the film, learn from our mistakes, then we're ready to get back to work. CHRIS GODWIN on Trace McSorley's performance in the TaxSlayer Bowl You know how people talk, saying year three with the new staff is that real test and the real showing of what the team can do. So I think for us this off-season is huge. JASON CABINDA Q U O T E S O P I N I O N S ALL SPORTS Nittany Lions 10th in Directors' Cup Penn State is o< to another strong start in the Lear;eld Sports Directors' Cup, as the Nittany Lions have posted their ninth consecutive top-10 fall ;n- ish. In the ;nal fall Directors' Cup stand- ings, released Jan. 14, Penn State was ranked No. 10. The Nittany Lions have ;nished in the top 10 in the ;nal fall standings in 18 of the ;rst 22 years of the Directors' Cup. The Nittany Lions were No. 8 in the ;- nal 2014-15 Directors' Cup standings, earning their third consecutive top-10 ;nish and 11th overall. Penn State is one of only nine programs nationwide to have ;nished in the top 25 in all 22 Di- rectors' Cup ;nal standings. The Penn State women's soccer team earned its ;rst NCAA championship to lead the way for the Lions this past fall. Directed by Erica Walsh, the national Coach of the Year, Penn State defeated Duke, 1-0, to capture the NCAA Women's College Cup. Senior Raquel Rodriguez, who scored the only goal in the NCAA title match, was selected the MAC Hermann Trophy and Honda Sport Award recipient for women's soc- cer and the NSCAA Scholar Player of the Year. The Penn State women's volleyball team advanced to the NCAA regional semi;nals for the 13th consecutive year to earn Directors' Cup points. The Big Ten champion women's cross country squad and men's cross country team also tallied points this past fall. Stanford leads the Directors' Cup with 479.5 points and is followed by Syracuse (347.5), North Carolina (342), Michigan (318.5), UCLA (300.5), Virginia (295), Minnesota (289), Washington (281), Notre Dame (275) and Penn State (273.5). The Big Ten, Atlantic Coast and Pac- 12 conferences all claimed three of the top 10 spots in the most recent fall

• Cover