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S E P T E M B E R 2 4 , 2 0 1 6 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M 3 gan's roster is loaded with talented, ex- perienced seniors, while Penn State's is nearly devoid of such players. Whatever his faults, Brady Hoke was a terrific re- cruiter. He landed the No. 7 class in the country in 2012 according to Rivals.com and the No. 5 class in 2013. Those players are now the backbone of the fourth- ranked team in the country. Penn State's classes, by contrast, were ranked 55th in 2012 and 42nd in 2013. But that sort of big-picture talk doesn't lessen the pain of another nationally tel- evised blowout loss. The Lions are now 0-6 against ranked opponents during Franklin's tenure and have looked bad doing it, dropping those six games by an average of 24.8 points. "Those top-five teams are top-five for a reason, and [Michigan] played like it today," Franklin said. "That's what we're trying to do. We're trying to build this program the same way, where we can be dominant in all three phases. We have a lot of work to do, and we're going to con- tinue to focus on that." And yet, even with many of its key players hurt, the Lions still have a path to bowl eligibility this year. There just isn't much margin for error. They play host to Minnesota and Maryland in the next two weeks, and although the Gophers are 3- 0 a@er defeating Colorado State, 31-24, the return to Beaver Stadium seemingly affords Penn State an oppor- tunity to regroup. Franklin sounded subdued a@er the game, especially with regard to the Lions' sit- uation at linebacker, where there simply aren't a lot of healthy players to man the three posi- tions anymore. But he was also resolute. "[Players are] hurting in that locker room right now, and so are the coaches," he said. "Physically hurting and emo- tionally hurting. But we're going to come back to work on Sunday and continue to work to get better." Peppers got the Wolver- ines off to a strong start with a 53-yard punt return to set up a touchdown. Photo by Steve Manuel

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