As you may have noticed Penn State is the fourth-ranked team in the nation. Whether or not the Nittany Lions are the fourth-best team in the nation is very much up for debate. Either way, the nice thing about having a schedule is that these things tend to sort themselves out. There’s no real reason to belabor the merits of this particular ranking just four weeks into the season.
So shifting gears…
College football is very much a game which rewards those who make the most of their opportunities. It’s about showing up when the moment strikes, and being ready when the moment arrives.
Because whether or not Penn State is the fourth-best team in the nation, the Nittany Lions could have lost to Wisconsin, could have lost to Ball State and could have lost to Auburn [sorry, Villanova].
Any of those things could happen, but none of them did.
That’s the thing that often gets lost in James Franklin’s tenure so far at Penn State. Over the last five years of and counting of a post sanction world, the Nittany Lions have never really been – save for the oddities of the 2020 season – bad.
In turn Penn State has always been right there. The Nittany Lions always been in the big game and they’ve always done what they’ve needed to in order to make that game. Because at the end of the day it takes two good, relevant and quality teams to make a game a big game.
And there is something to be said for that. Sure, Penn State and Franklin would loved to have to the 2017 and 2018 Ohio State games back and maybe a few others sprinkled in there, but again – being good enough to even be in a big game is half the battle.
At this point Penn State’s season is only four weeks old and so the legitimacy of the Nittany Lions’ ranking isn’t all that important. What is important: Penn State is once again in the conversation. It once again controls its own destiny. Win and you’re in.
It’s fair to say Franklin will have to bat at a higher percentage in those biggest moments if he wants to take Penn State to the next level. But then again Penn State did beat Wisconsin, it did beat Auburn and in a landscape – especially this year – where strange and unexpected losses reign supreme, the Nittany Lions haven’t picked up a truly bizarre defeat during a normal season in ages.
All of this is to say Penn State isn’t so many of the teams that have had better national success – which is a good thing and a bad thing. It hasn’t won a national title like Florida State, it hasn’t made the playoffs like Michigan State, it hasn’t done what Oklahoma has or won a Heisman like LSU. But look at all of those programs today, or maybe mix and match a few of your own choosing.
Florida State – a far cry from what it once was.
Michigan State – fighting for relevance in the Big Ten East.
Notre Dame – good but also unremarkable.
Oklahoma – good, but not without concerns.
LSU – not a single Joe, either Brady or Burrow in sight.
And sure, you can’t discredit something like a national title or a Heisman winner as an afterthought. Penn State would take those things in a heartbeat – maybe even in exchange for its current situation.
But in a world that’s about simply being ready when the moment strikes, Penn State keeps knocking on the door, and eventually that door will open and the Nittany Lions will walk through it.
The question then becomes: is it better to be in the big game every year and lose half of them, or be in the big game every five with the same win rate but triple the pressure?
