Blue White Illustrated

season under Meyer, and last year they went 11-2 despite having 12 players taken in the first four rounds of the previous NFL Draft. Penn State fans may find it irritating that the Nittany Lions are fac- ing more skepticism this season than a Buckeye team they beat last year, a team that was embarrassed by eventual na- tional champion Clemson, 31-0, in its most recent game, but it's not as if the analysts' continual faith is unwarranted. Ohio State has proven it can contend year in and year out. Now it's Penn State's turn. The Nit- tany Lions should have the manpower on offense to hang with anybody this fall. They may have gotten off to a slug- gish start in the spring game, with Trace McSorley hitting only 13 of 21 passes for 114 yards in two full quarters of action. But the list of absentees was extensive, as veteran starters Saquon Barkley, Mike Gesicki, Saeed Blacknall, Brendan Mahon and Andrew Nelson all sat out. And if the offense's early struggles mean that the defense is starting to gain more depth, that may actually be a promising sign. It's possible that Penn State and Ohio State will be sporting identical 7-0 records when they meet in Columbus on Oct. 28. If the Lions were to emerge from that game undefeated, they would be in great shape to make the College Football Playoff. They might even be vying for the nation's No. 1 ranking, given that an 8-0 start would also require victories over Pitt, Iowa and Michigan. We're deep in the realm of the hypothetical here, but stranger things have happened. Until then, however, expect the skepti- cism to persist – not just because Penn State has never won back-to-back Big Ten championships but because repeat- ing is hard. It's so hard, in fact, that only one team has done it since the league began playing a title game seven years ago. That team is Wisconsin, which claimed the title in 2011 and '12. As far as Franklin is concerned, the path to another championship is the same one the Nittany Lions followed last year. "We are not changing," he told re- porters after the spring game. "That is going to be our approach. Twenty-five years from now, you guys are going to be asking me those questions and it's going to be the same answer. "People talk about complacency. It's good that people are asking us about complacency, because that means that we've gotten to a point. We've gotten to that stage where people would ask us that question. For us, the way you don't worry about complacency is [by insist- ing that] this 2017 team has not achieved anything, James Franklin has not achieved anything, Saquon Barkley has not achieved anything. Those things are in the past. What are we going to do in the present? What are we going to do moving forward to be the type of pro- gram we want to be? I'm fired up right now. I'm excited." Can you blame him? The Lions may not have proven anything yet as far as the 2017 season is concerned, but they've got enough talent in their program to get themselves where they want to go and enough skepticism from outside of the program to assure that they won't be tempted to rest on their accomplish- ments. If you're James Franklin, that's a pretty good place to be. ■ I thought Stevens was terri9c. If Trace goes down, I feel we have a very capable backup. I thought the game showcased Jon Holland. We didn't see much of him in the past. With injuries to Dalton and Bowers, we still need a second TE. He caught the ball well and ran well a=er the catch. I did not focus on his blocking, however. Juwan John- son also looked very good. On defense, Cam Brown played a great game. JoeP Tommy had a great spring game... great! But I am pretty sure that the coaching sta; knows what they are doing. Trace is a winner at every level. It just amazes me that Trace throws an interception and now Tommy should be the starter. Consider us blessed that should Trace go down, Tommy is more than capable of leading the team. Hell, I would take both of our QBs over J.T. Barrett and wouldn't think twice about it! AngryOtter I thought the OL looked good. I was especially impressed with how tough Miranda looked coming in as a high school student. He looked strong and tough. He will be 9rst-team All-Big Ten by the time he leaves. I thought Fries looked good and that walk-on Simpson can de9nitely hold his own at center. On defense, I really like T.J. Johnson. He was a nice CB recruit who :ew under the wire, but I like his 6-2 height and coverage abilities. He de9- nitely has an NFL CB body already. I thought Shaka Toney played both run and pass very well even at his light size. I can see why the coaches rave about him. Finally, Shelton will also be a force at DT in the future. He is the per- fect strong run-stu> S I T E L I N E S B W I . R I V A L S . C O M R E A D E R S S O U N D O F F A B O U T T H E S P R I N G G A M E

• Cover