Now seems like a good time to cobble together a story on Penn State football.
For starters, firing offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich was a good move. A late one, but a good one. If the failed fourth-down play with around five minutes to play in the fourth quarter was his doing, or it was a team decision, it was one of the most bone-headed decisions in Penn State football history. Not as bad as the fourth-down play at the Alabama one-yard line in the 1979 Sugar Bowl, but not a good one at all.
Yurcich, who has been Penn State’s offensive coordinator since 2021, cut his teeth at Shippensburg University before building his resume further at Oklahoma State where he put up some impressive statistics in his six seasons there. Things didn’t go as planned this season, perhaps partly due to with a first-year starting quarterback (Drew Allar). It’s hard to lay all the blame at Yurcich’s feet. Still, somebody had to take the fall.
The Nittany Lions were trailing 17-9 and the defense was holding its ground. Instead of punting the ball and trusting the defense to get the ball back to the offense, somebody got impatient and thought a sophomore quarterback, whose numbers were abysmal, could somehow come through and make a play.
That didn’t happen. Michigan shoved the ball down Penn State’s throat and took a 24-9 lead. Essentially game over.
Don’t let the late touchdown that closed the gap to 24-15 meant anything. It didn’t. So much for the mental edge considering the distraction and over-the-top coverage of Jim Harbaugh’s absence (er, suspension). The Wolverines did just fine with assistant coach Sherrone Moore.
Maybe Michigan welcomed the controversy. It could have been just what was needed to give Penn State a false sense of inflated confidence.
But let’s take it down a notch.
There’s no doubt that there probably was a chorus of profane rants about firing not only Yurcich but head coach James Franklin. After all, if your name is Bill Curry and your team goes 10-1 but loses to Auburn (again), job security is about as certain as an ant surviving a monsoon.
Somehow Franklin has been shielded from such conditions in his coaching tenure. I suppose the suits in Happy Valley are happy that Franklin’s teams continued on an upward trend after coming through three years of austerity due to probation stemming from the Jerry Sandusky Scandal.
Bill O’Brien actually saved the day for the football program. He coached only two years but despite severe sanctions the Nittany Lions finished 8-4 and 7-5 in 2012 and 2013, respectively. And, speaking of 2013, that was the season Penn State won an electrifying overtime game against The University of Michigan, 43-40.
Franklin became the head coach prior to the 2014 season. Two years later, Penn State won the Big Ten Championship and played in the Rose Bowl. An 11-3 season arguably endeared Franklin to the ones in charge of his future. An 11-2 season in 2017, a 9-4 season in 2018 and another 11-2 campaign in 2019 didn’t hurt his job security.
The Covid season of 2020 saw Penn State finish 4-5, and after a promising start to the 2021 season when the Lions roared to a 5-0 start, the team fizzled out and finished 7-6. But 2022 saw the reemergence of Rasputin, whose group finished 11-2 and won the Rose Bowl.
I am not privy to the specifics of Franklin’s contract, though it was extended a couple years ago through 2026. Something tells me that beating Ohio State and Michigan are not conditions of continued employment.
The question, then, becomes: “If Penn State wins 10 games this season, does it fall short of expectations because the Nittany Lions did not beat Ohio State and Michigan?”
The answer is a resounding: “Uh, no.”
Joe Paterno was 9-11 against Ohio State. He was 6-10 against Michigan.
Franklin is 3-7 against Michigan and 1-9 against Ohio State.
Overall, Franklin’s coaching record at University Park is a respectable 86-38.
It’s possible that Franklin will never gain the acceptance or support of a lot of people just because he isn’t Bill O’Brien or Joe Paterno.
But the anger and resentment over Penn State’s inability to crack the code against Ohio State and Michigan must be tempered by the realization that the Nittany Lions are competitive and built to win season after season. As a reminder, the players who do the sweating and hitting and hurting are between the ages of 18 and 22. They’re men, but not far removed from being boys.
Currently, Penn State is 8-2 and should win its final two regular season games against Rutgers and Michigan State. After that, it’s wait and see if the Nittany Lions get a bid to another News Year’s Six bowl game.
