Blue White Illustrated

gust at the start of media day. "We're still a really young team, one of the youngest teams in the country. We were really young last year, and we're still young. Our roster is still somewhat out of whack." Fair point. And yet, you can't blame fans for being impatient. Penn State has played 129 seasons of intercollegiate football, and in 101 of those seasons, it has 8nished with a winning record. In 46 of those sea- sons, it has reached a bowl game, includ- ing 44 of the past 57 seasons. At this school, as at most others on the list of all-time winningest Division I programs, expectations have been ele- vated by decades of continual success, decades in which Joe Paterno's presea- son circumspection was seen as a dodge and the team o:en was much better than the coach was letting on at media day. Those seasons have given rise to a sense of optimism that transcends personnel losses, coaching changes and even NCAA sanctions. To Nittany Lion fans, accustomed to seasons like 1985 and 2005, when the team started out un- ranked and ended up playing for the na- tional championship and Orange Bowl title, respectively, anything is possible. Even when the head says 7-5, the heart says 11-1. But if you can't blame fans for being hopeful, you also can't blame Franklin for failing to deliver on hopes that his roster is simply ill-quipped to handle. Sure, the sta9 might have another vic- tory or two on its ledger if it had man- aged the clock better at the end of last season's game at Northwestern or if it hadn't tried so desperately to get an in- e9ective running game clicking at Illi- nois two years ago. But the biggest impediment to Penn State's success in recent years has been a dearth of elite personnel at several key position groups, the most notable being – let's all say it together – the o9ensive line. The line may still be a work in progress this coming season, despite the arrival of 8ve four-star prospects in the past two recruiting classes and the in- stallation of a simpli8ed scheme mas- terminded by new o9ensive coordinator Joe Moorhead and position coach Matt Limegrover. With less than three weeks to go before the start of the season, Limegrover was still tinkering with his personnel up front, hoping to 8nd the most e9ective starting 8ve and even throwing a couple of true freshmen into the mix: guards Michal Menet and Con- nor McGovern. "I want to put them in the worst possi- ble scenarios to see how they'll re- spond," Limegrover said. "Sometimes it's been good, sometimes there's work that needs to be done. The great thing about those guys [is that] they're so at- tentive in everything, detailwise. Their future is bright." Everyone seems to agree that the Lions' future is looking better than its recent past. The question is, when will that future get here? Earlier this summer, athletic director Sandy Barbour stressed the need for pa- S I T E L I N E S • B W I . R I VA L S . C O M R E A D E R S D I S C U S S T H E U P C O M I N G S E A S O N James Franklin stepped into a difficult and almost impossible situation, but I think he's rebuilding the program in the right way and this season may be the start of the upswing. foxnit Agree. Plus let's not forget the "dog that didn't bark" – no off-field crimes or embarrassment, and some good additions to the staff. I have a good feeling about Moorhead. rtrexler Obviously time will tell, as we HAVE to start winning on the field and the rest will come, but I agree that Franklin has done a lot in just three short years to turn this around. More people need to appreciate his sticking around, be- cause look at what he's able to do under these circumstances, and imagine if he had left and went into a normal situation!! Gbuck15 I believe Franklin will get an extension very soon that will keep him around until 2022 or longer. He is slowly but surely building up the depth and talent, and we will see the results soon. Being patient sucks, but we need to be for an- other one or two years. Samurailion I have been watching some older games on BTN lately where we have lost on the field to teams we should have beaten, even though we have been tal- ent depleted. I still have doubts about CJF's ability to coach on game days. I certainly hope that the newer coaches can take more of a role in better preparing our team to properly develop a game day plan that will be more ef- fective than what I have witnessed so far. ... Having a poor OL, and a QB (Hackenberg) who couldn't adjust to a mad rush, was probably a big part of this, so I am hoping that a new offensive game plan with a more mobile QB, and hopefully an improved OL, can win us games we would have lost the past few years! Jerademan74 Given our margin for error (or lack thereof) because of talent depletion, punting, etc., I give him a pass for now on in-game coaching gaffes. Every coach makes them, but they can be masked when you have talent like OSU, MSU, etc. acg116

• Cover