Why is PENN STATE the SAME TEAM Every Year (Definition of Insanity) 

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Until they beat Michigan or OSU constantly no one will take them seriously no matter what their record is or how much they beat their opponents by

I can understand why Penn State fans are frustrated, but it’s always good to keep in mind that a large majority of CFB programs would LOVE to have the type of seasons Penn State has had.

As a penn state fan, this is a direct result of James Franklin. He can lead us to a solid season if you give him talent, but he will never win you a championship. He always gets outclassed by the better coaches in the bigger games, simply because he doesn’t seem to make any sort of adjustments when he needs to

If you are covering this topic, you have to mention the new contract including the buyout that James Frankin received. In 2021, when you claim that he is on the "hot seat", he received a 10-year deal with a 64 million dollar buyout.

They have a little chance but they have to beat Michigan. I know Penn state expects more but having 9,10,11 win seasons is still extremely impressive.

Quality and accurate breakdown of modern Penn State from a Buckeye fan. Cover the collapse of Clemson next 🙏🏻

You hit the nail on the head. As a Penn State fan, I get excited at the beginning of the year at the prospect of a big season, only to be let down as the season progresses and the team gets worse. Going into the end of the season we know we are going to lose the Michigan and we know we are really just not a very good team despite all the height. Most schools would be happy with Franklin because he does win a lot of games. But the big schools require someone better who can win the big games. That is not Franklin.

Went to Penn State and am a huge fan. Against Ohio State: Franklin's decision to go for it on 4th and 3, on our half of the field, with 7 minutes left, within a score, when we were 0/10+ on 3rd down conversions... Was absolutely mind boggling to me. The pass plays on 3rd and 1 were also mind boggling to me. He is an incredible recruiter, which we needed coming out of the death sentence, but holy shit is the man garbage at game management.

I’ve thought this for so long. Penn state is just one of those teams who everyone knows is good at football but is never enough to win a championship. Year after year they make the rankings but never follow with anything significant, kinda weird how that works

Franklin got a 10 year extension last year. He's not going anywhere regardless of the performance. The buyout would be insane. We are married to him now, for better or for worse.

Great vid man. Don’t let anybody (from a certain Mizzou site) tell you that your channel is a joke. You do a bang-up job.

As a Pennsylvanian, who’s not necessarily a PSU fan but appreciates them, I feel like this has been the story for over 20 years. They’re a “bottom of the top” tier program if that makes sense 🤣

This one hit home with me. I’m an NC State grad and football season ticket holder. We have had a similar situation, but for about 50 years, when our last ACC conference championship happened.

There’s no way you’ve watched the Penn state games this year if you think allar is another hackenberg. This teams biggest issue is that we have no receivers. Franklins issue overall has been consistently bad offensive lines. That’s why we haven’t beaten osu or michigan much. We lose the battle in the trenches every season. It was supposed to be better this year, but we had a starter leave football days before the season started, and now our run blocking sucks. Allar is a dog in the best way though, watch some film instead of living on the stat sheet.

Yeah, go ahead and fire a coach that gets you 10 or 11 wins every year. That worked so well for Nebraska a while back.

As long as James Franklin is still coaching PSU football, the program won't be able to take that next step. We haven't beaten Ohio State since 2016 - and it took a fluke miracle to win that one - and we've only beaten Michigan three times since. The fact of the matter is, he simply hasn't won the big games, and yet another horrific loss this year to Ohio State has cemented the sad reality that Franklin just isn't capable of beating good teams. I was absolutely furious when we extended him after our disastrous 2021 season - I was fully expecting him to be fired after getting blown out by Michigan State to end the year. "But a lot of teams would love to be in your position, blah blah blah ..." yeah - always the bridesmaid, NEVER the bride. I'm giving Franklin one more year - I think if he fails to beat Michigan this season, the discussion of potentially firing him may be officially ramped up. If he can't get to the CFP next season, he absolutely needs to go. He's cost this team SO many wins over the last 7 years ... Ohio State in 2017, Ohio State again in 2018, Minnesota and Ohio State yet AGAIN in 2019, Iowa/Illinois/Ohio State in 2021 ... the list goes on and on. How he wasn't fired after our debacle against Illinois in 2021 is beyond me. He's done some good things for this program but he's far, far outstayed his welcome. He needs to man up and stop being so stubborn or he gets the boot, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Franklin got his bag producing the same team year after year. He’s content going 10-2, which isn’t bad, but we want to compete for a natty at least once every four years or so. Franklin has reached his ceiling and it’s going to be hard for him to keep recruiting at this pace if this is the norm.

I've often wondered this. Besides the nightmare after Sandusky, Penn State is always right below great. QB play seems to be the difference in them going from good and great. They are like VT was under Beamer. Had talent and a good defense but lacked offensive productivity.

This is difficult for me. I’m a grad student at PSU and I came from an undergrad at university of Kansas. So trust me when I say I’ve seen REALLY bad football. Part of me sees that we are a consistently „good“ team and we should just be happy for the ability to my NY6 games regularly, but also I see how we are a historically prestigious team and need to return to the glory of the 80s.

Great analysis!!! PSU offense is too predictable! On third and short at least put Beau in, he can pass or run for the first down. They definitely need to get some new receivers for next year...

As a Penn State alum, Coach Franklin has proven himself to be a good coach but not an elite coach. I believe Franklin has not reached his ceiling yet! I’ve said it many times Franklin chokes in every way during the big game. His game management when he’s playing just a good team is excellent. When he’s playing a Michigan or Ohio state ranked team his big moment play calling goes absolutely haywire and they look like a whole different team! Penn states talent is much better than a 11-2 team, with correct play calling and consistency + keeping their pieces they will get back to being a college elite in a few years! But Franklin has to make sound decisions in the big game, also great offensive coordinators are hard to come by it seems!

I little bit of clarification on Indiana that I believe is needed, 2 touchdowns were on ridiculously bad plays by the defense. 1 was for 90 some yards were the receiver wasn't even covered, otherwise that game wasn't close. Also, the running game hasn't been explosive all year, not just recently.

The thing you didn’t really cover is the grift of Franklin’s contract, his pursuit of more money for better coordinators and how PSU has spent hordes of money to modernize the facilities that was once the pinnacle of college football facilities. The university has quadrupled down in regards to spending and there’s zero reason why Franklin can’t get them over the top.

A lot of it is due to their offensive design. They still insist on running the RPO even though Trace McSorely graduated in 2019. They don’t recruit the right personnel for their offense and honestly it’s just a big mess that probably won’t get cleaned anytime soon

As a penn state fan I'm in this situation where I'm blessed to have such a good team to support, but frustrated in losing the big games every year. We're so close to a national championship, yet so far. But I think I can speak for the vast majority of penn state fans: James Franklin is the coach and we should stick with him.

The one other aspect of Franklin that I think nobody gets into is the question of what he is actually good at. All the other top coaches in college football have one aspect they specialize at, whether defense or offense that is the team's identity. Day, Chip, and Harbaugh, are offensive coaches. Saban and Smart are primarily defensive minded coaches. What is Franklin, recruiting and speaking to donors? His teams seem lost on either side of the ball depending on who the coordinator is depending on the season. Early success was Morehead on offense until he left yet the defense lacked, now they have success with Diaz on defense yet the offense has seems lackluster.

I'm so glad you made this video! I was telling my son how overrated Franklin is. He gives us false hopes year in & year out. As you stated, he tends to take care of weaker/mediocre teams but always seems to lose the big ones against Ohio St & Michigan. We are what are coach is...

After the latest Michigan scandal, multiple OSU scandals, and various others involving NCAA violations and/or cheating, I think (and it may already exist) EVERY NCAA coaching contract should include a clause that essentially says, "if you are caught violating NCAA rules, you will be fired with no monetary payout".

As a WVU fan.I would love for my team to be consistent in having good seasons.People have high expectations.They were saying that about Michigan and they improved.Ohio State loss .It hurts I’m sure.Sometimes teams have your number.

Pretty telling that this came out BEFORE Penn State followed the exact same script again against Michigan, and was still accurate

Did you record this video in a cathedral?

EXACTLY! Franklin = Overpriced + Underproductive

Sadly, many of us bought into the "hype". The offense became boring, boring, boring. No running game, no passing game. No excitement. Yes, they won, but it was not pretty. Defense was fun to watch, but offense was broken. Only when Beau got it was there any hint of excitement but Franklin kept him on the bench for some strange reason.

Can recruit at an elite level, coach at a good level.

Nice one Voss

I'm a Penn State alumnus and fan. James Franklin is a great recruiter, but not a great coach. He gets out coached by not only Ohio State and Michigan every year,but usually by a couple other coaches every year. The talent on the team usually covers up those games, except for Ohio State and Michigan. Until he can beat Ohio State and Michigan, we'll always be third! But Penn State usually gets into a New Years Bowl, so they never get rid of him.Every couple years there is talk of some school looking at him to try to draw him to come coach for them ( namely USC),and he uses this as leverage to get a bigger contract,and PSU caves in, because they get into a major Bowl game. It's a never ending circle. The idea should be to win a national championship. He only gets them so far. You watch him on the sidelines against Ohio State and Michigan,and he looks confused and yes,out coached! If a school wants him badly enough,PSU should just let him walk.

The irony of all this is that every time OSU beats them whether it’s a blow out or not everyone acts like they just beat a tough team in Penn State just so they can get a high spot in the CFP rankings

Will Levis threw 4 TD's for the Tennessee Titans. CJF let him walk, sticking with Clifford instead. CJF Franklin is now stubbornly sticking with Allar. Will Beau transfer out too? Let's see what he's got when Allar is struggling.

Penn State Will ALWAYS be a secondary team on the national stage as long as James Franklin is the coach, period!

The problem with college football is people think if you don't win the natty the season was a failure, partially due to the cfp

It s very simple: their offense does a Houdini like disappearing act every time they play Ohio State or Michigan. Franklin becomes ultra conservative and makes himself very predictable. It never fails.

Penn state under James Franklin is in the same situation that Georgia was in under Mark Richt. Always there but never quite right. Georgia fired him and brought in Kirby smart. 2 national championships later, they're #1 in the polls. Fire Franklin and bring in the next Kirby smart.

You are insane too, changing up the energy so quickly

The definition of insanity is "the state of being seriously mentally ill; madness". It is NOT doing the same thing and expecting different results. Football teams routinely run up the middle on 4th and 1 and if they get stopped, they still run up the middle with the next 4th and one and expect a different result, because there they know there is a 75% probability that running up the middle will give them the first down. Baseball hitters swing in exactly the same way, sometimes on back-to-back pitches and expect a different result because the next pitch may be the fastball instead of a curve. Actually sane people often "do the same thing and expect a different result"... it actually is the "no emotion", rational response.

It’s honestly sad even more sad that we have a generational defense this year and offense can’t get it going

As a PSU graduate, onetime employee, and fan of more than forty years, I see the Franklin good-but-not-great theme as a continuation of the later Paterno years. JoePa should have hung it up after the undefeated season of 1994 -- the only time in 30 years that Penn State has truly dominated the Big Ten, and the only great Paterno team post-1986. Since then, both Paterno and Franklin recruited tons of talent, only to put together predictably underwhelming 9 and 10-win seasons. This is part of the good ol' boy institutional culture at Penn State, though. Unlike the OSUs and the Alabamas, they never actually fire anyone for being merely good. And by the way, this inability to make the tough decisions is also what allowed the Jerry Sandusky scandal to happen--everyone sort of knew about it in the admin, but no one was willing to take decisive action because, gee, feelings might get hurt. And we all saw what happened as a result. But that's the Happy Valley way, and I don't see it changing anytime soon.

Franklin is what he is…..he’s an avg coach that does just enough to not lose his job….

Man, good video. Michigan fan here. I think what people miss is the assistant couches. Head coach has final say but coordinators run the offense and defense. Remember rich rod at michigan? Awesome offense. Wouldn't fire defensive couch cause theyvwere friends. Ultimately lost his job. Look at the quarterbacks coach or recruiting. You guys are close. Gotta find that weak link

I understand your frustration, but you CANNOT fire a Coach averaging 10 wins a season. I’m a husker fan, and the single largest mistake we ever made was firing Bo Pelini. I know y’all want to take the jump, but I’m legitimately serious, at 10+ wins a season the probability you’ll get a coach that averages better is impossibly low

Even in 2016, when the won the Big Ten, they lost to Pitt and were massacred at Michigan 49-10. And if not for an awfully officiated game in Columbus, when Michigan played OSU, Michigan would have won the Big Ten. So even when they’ve been on top, their fans haven’t been able to puff their chests out too much.

Unfortunately it’s questionable coaching decisions in crucial moments, inconsistent QB play and this year in particular, I would add that they lack the receiving weapons they’ve had in the past. The WRs on this current team don’t come anywhere near OSU for example. I do believe next year will be much better. Allar has the potential to really become elite. Keep in mind she’s a sophomore but a first year starter. Give him time. By that point, the running back core will also be even better.

They are simply not recruiting at the level of their prime competitors. They are recruiting well but not at an elite level. It reflects in the results against the Big Two.

Penn st fans need to take a long look at Nebraska and really consider if moving on from Franklin is the right move. Grass is not always greener.

Because they chose Franklin when there were two better head coaches up for the job, they chose to be diverse instead of getting the best coach for the job

They’ll be 10-2 again, and they’ll get completely thumped by Michigan

The answer to your question is "James Franklin". As a coach / game manager, he seems consistently unprepared for the games that matter (Ohio State, Michigan and occasionally when facing the top team from the BIG West). His game management / play calling decisions at crucial points of the game usually don't work out (either he makes a poor decision, or his players are ill-prepared to execute at those crucial times). His supporters defend him by stating that he's a great recruiter - which may be true - but he seems to lack that secret something that will ever enable the teams he coaches to ever become elite.

It’s not just wins and losses, it’s how you coach in the moment. Franklin is a terrible in game coach. Every big game he does something stupid like for example going for it on 4th down around midfield ended the Ohio State game when a punt was the obvious smart play in a field position battle. As a Michigan fan I love Franklin, because you can count on him to put his team in a bad situation

Said it before the season 10-2 and problems with the passing game. Easiest prediction of the year. Even though psu fans thought allar was going to be their savior when he had never started a single game and they lost their 2 best WRs and best TE and it shows.

Story idea: there’s a kid at UNC Charlotte that was a 5 star recruit coming out of high school. He started at Alabama before transferring

Thanks for the insipid hot takes. You have a bright future in mainstream journalism.

I’ve watched Franklin and PSU closely for his decade at the school and I think there’s two main points that keep them from being truly great: 1. Consistently bad to terrible offensive lines. Penn State has had NFL talent all over their offense except their O-line. The talent doesn’t matter if your QB has one second to throw the ball and your RBs get no blocking. This has been consistent for the entire Franklin tenure: their offensive line is always so much worse than either Osu or Michigan. 2. Franklin is legitimately one of the worst in-game coaches in college football right now. Absolutely baffling decisions every single week and every big game he coaches he ramps up the mistakes ten fold. Running the ball at Chase Young on 4th and 6 with the game on the line, kicking field goals down 28-0 in the first half, running trick plays that never ever seem to work, going for two when it makes no sense to, the list goes on. I don’t think that’s something he’ll ever grow out of. If Penn State wants to keep Franklin they need him to hire a good OL coach and play caller on offense and keep his gameday decisions to a minimum. Franklin is a great recruiter and could be a good CEO coach but he is way too hands on to the detriment of his program

They're like ole miss every year they're ranked like 12 or 13 and might loose a game get pushed back and then win a few games and get pushed back around 12-14 and the cycle repeats next year

This is spot on.

That’s largely because Penn State hasn’t had a great QB under center since the mid 1990s

James Franklin team's will always be just good enough to not quite be able to beat the top teams.

PSU alum here. I said it before and I’ll say it again. Franklin is a politician and not a coach. He says all the right things, but never follows through on what he says.

Not sure Penn State is underperforming. Ohio State and Michigan (through shady means but still) are simply better programs. The Nittany Lions current situation reminds me of my favorite team, Wisconsin, back in early-mid last decade. Badgers always looked like they had a team capable of breaking through but lost a lot of close games and just couldn’t quite get into that championship tier. Three most frustrating seasons were in 2011, 2016, and 2017. In ‘11, they had Russell Wilson at QB and their usual dominant running attack but had an uncharacteristically suspect defense and lost to Michigan State and a mediocre Ohio State team on back to back Hail Marys. In ‘16, they had close losses to Ohio State and Michigan and then blew a huge lead in the B1G championship against Penn State. In ‘17, they were 12-0 with a CFP berth right there for them only to lose another B1G championship to a 2-loss OSU team.

No one outside of Pennsylvania ever thinks they have a legitimate chance at a National Championship. They’re not even ever legitimately close.

Nailed it!

State is consistently the 10 th to 12 th best team in the country for decades. Apparently their ceiling. Stunningly unimaginative against top teams.

“Consistently underperforming” last years started unranked went 11-2 with losses to playoff teams and killed a top ten team in the rose bowl. Such a casual take

Its the Mark Richt effect at UGA. Cant get over the hump or win the big games, despite getting 10 wins. Still, UGA fired him, hired Kirby Smart and won 2 championships since then. So until PSU beats Michigan and Ohio State, they will hit a wall and stay in 3rd place forever.

This aged well, not that anyone who knows James Franklin would think differently

Video suggestion for you.... "Why Florida State, Clemson and UNC would be foolish to leave the ACC just for more revenue." Especially since we are now witnessing how badly Clemson is collapsing, and how UNC is beyond Hot and Cold while still IN THE ACC. Alternate option: Why Oregon State and Washington State should join either the Big12 or ACC ASAP.

Who should be coaching this team???? That's the real question. On the plus side, Penn State seemed to move on from the scandal. Con: You're saying that this team is in need of an upgrade. Looks like they need a total rebuild. Let everyone go and probably start from scratch.

Right now the offense just needs development and experience. Drew Allar has all the tools to take this team out of indy with a win

Drew Allar legit broke the record for most pass attempts with a int I think he’s doing just fine he’s also 19 when Bo Nix is like 25

Still believe the issue is that Franklin is buddy-buddy with the players instead of challenging them to be excellent.

James Franklin ran a jet sweep on 4&5 against Ohio state when we had mcsorely. That sums up his coaching career.

As a WVU fan, I’d take Franklin any day

They should just fire James Franklin He’s just a mediocre coach But Penn state won’t fire him because of his consistency Also his offensive is just so predictable Spam two running backs and have a game manager type QB to make sure they don’t turn over the ball While the defense do everything else

Being ungrateful for the last 2 seasons: 19-3 record and a Rose Bowl victory, is the definition of insanity.

If you thought this year was gonna be different, you haven’t been watching UM

It is Penn State’s style of play that doesn’t match up well against Michigan or Ohio State. The lack of explosiveness in the passing game is the biggest difference. And largely why they lose repeatedly to UM and OSU.

Scott, the real definition of insanity which I had commented elsewhere more than 2 weeks ago is James Franklin's lack of a Plan 'B' going into a game. As much of a slugfest as the Ohio State game was, there wasn't any reason why Penn State couldn't have won that game aside from the fact that Penn State kept trying to do the same plays over and over when it was crystal clear to anybody watching it that Ohio State had their formations and play calling worked out. I won't put as much fault with Drew as you or some others might because of 2 important factors. First, it's his first year on the big stage and playing in Columbus isn't easy and I am still glad we had Drew after being stubbornly saddled with Clifford for 6 years. Secondly, the offensive line isn't getting the job done. If you watched that Ohio State game, Ohio State was just steamrolling our offensive line and Drew had NO time to do anything on almost every play and at a certain point a QB gets tired of being hit and everything gets rushed. This all goes back to the predictability of the play calling and Franklin's lack of a Plan B when entering any game.

Keep in mind that PSU has a vary large and impassioned fan base so every story line is magnified. Yes I’m extremely disappointed with Franklin in the big games but who is the replacement at this point? Living in the butt scratch environs of state college requires a special person and I don’t see many people rushing to buy property in Philipsburg or raving about all the great places to eat 5 miles out of town. We have lost recruits because of the deer jerky vibe 2 minutes outside of College avenue. We just need a huge OC hire on par with Diaz AND we need Franklin to self evaluate why the offense has been a perennial thorn. Despite all the heart ache I’d much rather have a full stadium of fans passionate about the team than the Pitt or iIllini fan base. I’ll end with some Paterno information. Consider this next time u want to bury Franklin: “Despite many wins early in his tenure, Paterno struggled to defeat the best of the best. In his first 10 career games against a top five opponent, Penn State Football compiled a record of just 1-9. His second win against a top five opponent did not come until 1978: his 13th season as the head coach of the Nittany Lions. Across 46 seasons and 409 total wins, Joe Paterno put together a record of 13-33 against top five opponents. Eight of those 13 wins came in the 1980s. His third win against a top five team came in 1981, his 16th season as the head man of Penn State Football. That sparked a run that saw them pick up eight wins over top five teams in a six-year span. They went 8-4 against top five competition during that stretch.”

Manny Diaz has had some great defenses the last few years, and they're just wasting them sad.

I am a Gator fan. I would take 11-2 every year with losses to UGA and Bama. Not gonna lie.

I watched a game against Michigan a couple years ago. They tried a fake punt, it worked. Worst thing that could have happened. He tried it twice more that game. Gee, didn't work. If you need 2 yards, keep your offense out there. Why would you rely on the punter/ st unit to get you first downs consistently in a game? Once was enough.

they go through the same thing as notre dame but notre dame doesn’t get the excuse of “a lot of cfb teams would kill for their level of success” like penn state does

Not throwing the ball deep permits opposing defenses to stack the box against the run.. hence, no big plays in the run or pass game. I miss Joe Moorehead. His offense in '17 scored 80 total points against Michigan and Ohio State combined.

Allar is at 21 tds and 1 pick this year, what are you talking about?

The offensive play-calling is predictable, the o-line is terrible, the wide receivers are mediocre at best, and the tight ends are underutilized

Good video. Here after the Michigan embarrassment. Very winnable game. I have been a penn state fan since before I can remember. At this point t it’s not worth watching. I follow on my phone but as you said it’s either a predictable blow out or loss.

Must have something to do with "shrinkflation" and also workers only working up to their decreasing relative pay due to inflation. Amongst all this I have heard of record profits, so the motive to improve is not there until the bubble pops. The only thing where quality is about level is the rise of gas station style fast food, which I understand is more popular in the north east potentially. Even there the ingredients are about the same, but preparation quality has also dropped. Wish it was possible for you to review things like Wawa and Sheetz, I'm not sure of the more southern equivalent, maybe Buc-ees?

Great recruiter, mid coach. Nothing will change.

JF wont ever admit that the RPO read option gimmick is suited for Conference USA and The Sun Belt Conference. You're not beating the SEC and competing for the National Championship like that.

...yep...what you see in game one is what you get all year...after WVU I was critical...'cause I knew what was coming. Allar has regressed...he's up in his own head...plus probably gun shy after facing that defense in practice all the time.

💥💥The narrative that James Franklin cannot win big games is absolutely fact now. 1-6 vs Top 10 Teams At Home 5-9 vs Ranked Teams at Home 1-8 vs Top 5 Teams 3-7 vs Michigan 1-9 vs ohio state Michigan HC suspended last minute, and Franklin still couldn’t coach PSU to a win.