Penn State Sports Magazine
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2 0 1 7 S E A S O N P R E V I E W I've always believed that football is cyclical in nature. A team's successes and failures o@en come in waves. Turnovers bounce one way, then the other. Injuries are avoided, then the bug bites hard. Im- probable wins lead to greater triumph, then a head-scratching loss alters the tra- jectory. In 2016, Penn State experienced it all. It seemed like everything went against the Lions at the start of the season, but then all seemed to turn in their favor. Where does the cycle pick up in '17? No doubt this year's roster is more com- plete than last year's, but the biggest ob- stacle PSU faces now is the expectation level. Teams are more ready than before, and the middle portion of the schedule does not kindly accommodate. The =rst two road trips are to Iowa and Northwest- ern, with the latter game kicking o> at 11 a.m. CT. Those have been problematic destinations in the past. Back-to-back kicko>s against Michigan and Ohio State follow, and they can spell either a midsea- son surge or setback that makes or breaks the entire season. A Senior Day kicko> against Nebraska isn't one to be over- looked, either, rounding out =ve potential defeats on this year's schedule. PSU won't lose them all. But it's just as unlikely to win them all. PREDICTION 9-3 Fans cannot help but be enthused about the 2017 football team with o>en- sive coordinator Joe Moorhead's up- tempo, o@en explosive o>ense and its two legitimate Heisman Trophy candi- dates, running back Saquon Barkley and quarterback Trace McSorley, whose ex- ploits on the =eld are crucial to an ulti- mately successful season. The less-experienced defense needs to coalesce behind the leadership of vet- eran players such as linebacker Jason Cabinda and free safety Marcus Allen. The Lions will need to come up with crucial big plays, while the special teams must continue to control =eld position and maybe even score some points. If the team can avoid upsets while produc- ing a couple of its own and overcome the injuries that usually disrupt a team's chemistry, this could be another Big Ten championship season and maybe more for coach James Franklin. The fan in me wants to predict a 12-0 regular season and a coveted spot in the four-team Col- lege Football Playo> – a spot that the Nittany Lions legitimately earned last year until the playo> selection commit- tee changed the rules. The pessimist in me says there will not be another "mira- cle" season. PREDICTION 9-3 Over the past couple of years, there have been a lot of questions in the months leading up to the season, but that's not the case in 2017. OK, maybe there are a few: Who will replace Chris Godwin? Who will break out along the defensive line? But for the most part, it's all about expectations this season. That may prove to be the biggest question of them all: How does Penn State deal with high expectations for the =rst time under James Franklin? If you look at the schedule, a 10-win season is realistic. While it should prove di?cult beating Ohio State in back-to- back seasons, the Nittany Lions will be favored in every other game this fall. Hosting Nebraska and Michigan will only help their cause, but before that, I expect the Lions will be looking for re- venge against their neighbor to the west. A@er drawing even in their series with Pitt, McSorley and Co. should get past a rebuilding Michigan squad. However, I expect Michigan State to rebound, while Iowa will rise to the top in the West, so keep an eye on those two road trips. Look for the Lions to win 10 and make their second consecutive New Year's Six bowl game. PREDICTION 10-2 TIM OWEN ASSISTANT EDITOR LOU PRATO CONTRIBUTING WRITER RYAN SNYDER RECRUITING REPORTER viously. In college football, as in life, the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. As Franklin noted this spring, "It's good that people are asking us about complacency, be- cause that means that we've gotten to a point. We've gotten to that stage where people would ask us that question." But you don't have to do a deep dive into the Big Ten record books to find an example of a feel-good story that spawns a mediocre sequel the following year. Iowa, which went 12-0 in the 2015 regular season and nearly defeated Michigan State in the Big Ten Champi- onship Game, lost to North Dakota State of the Football Championship Subdivi- sion in week three last season. The Hawkeyes went on to finish 8-5, falling far short of the conference title game and wrapping up their season with a 30- 3 loss to Florida in the Outback Bowl. It was a disappointing finish for a team that had recaptured the nation's atten- tion a year earlier, but it wasn't entirely surprising. In a conference with five or six playoff-caliber programs, repeating is brutally hard. During the three sea- sons in which the league was split up into the Leaders and Legends divisions, only one team repeated as a divisional champ (Wisconsin, which won the Leaders Division in 2011 and '12). Since the conference realigned into the East and West divisions in 2014, no team has repeated.