Editor discusses college football statistics

By Alex Kurtz Sports editor Five years ago, the NCAA was close to giving the Penn State football program the death penalty. The program had been tainted by the...

By Alex Kurtz Sports editor

Five years ago, the NCAA was close to giving the Penn State football program the death penalty. The program had been tainted by the Jerry Sandusky scandal and was relinquished of many scholarships and was on the verge of collapse. The next year, new coach Bill O’Brien won the NCAA Coach of the Year Award as he led a team of the last of Paterno’s recruits to a nine-win season and converted average quarterback Matt McGloin into a star his senior year. He even landed the best quarterback recruit in the country in Christian Hackenberg.

Fast forward two years later. O’Brien had been gone for a year after leaving Happy Valley for the Houston Texans, and former Vanderbilt coach James Franklin was now at the helm. Hackenberg struggled in an unfamiliar offense and fell from grace to be one of the worst starting quarterbacks statistically in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Penn State barely scraped by into bowl games, and Franklin was on the hot seat going into his third season. He lacked a signature win and came into the season with only one true established superstar in sophomore running back Saquon Barkley.

In the preseason, if you had told me that Penn State would play against Wisconsin for the Big Ten title game this weekend, I probably would have wondered what form of illicit drugs you might be on. However, when it comes to Franklin, I finally get to say this: I told you so.

Head coaches are given a shorter leash on life than a racehorse with a broken leg. Franklin was constantly being ridiculed for coaching a team that, other than the logo they shared, was not his.

Three years after his hire, he has a shot at not only winning the Big Ten Championship but possibly making a run at the National Championship with his recruits and team. He beat Ohio State, giving them their only loss, and obtained that signature win that he had lacked during his short tenure. With new offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead transforming the offense, this is a Nittany Lions team like nobody has seen.

It could get even better for Penn State fans though. Here is the Cinderella story of how the 2016 Nittany Lions season could win their first National Title since 1986. Let us say that they do beat Wisconsin this weekend and make it into the playoff over presumed PAC-12 champion Washington as the fourth seed. I predict a 31-17 win for Penn State.

If Penn State makes the four-team playoff, there is about a 90 percent chance they will play Alabama, the already presumed National Champion.

Alabama, while having a fantastic defense, is average on offense. Penn State also will ride into the game on a nine-game winning streak. The Nittany Lions also have one of the best defensive lines and linebacker corps in the FBS. Alabama will sleep on them, and I would not be shocked to see Penn State take down Goliath and advance to the National Championship. Final score: Penn State 21 – Alabama 20.

In the National Championship, they would probably either play the Clemson Tigers or the Ohio State Buckeyes. Clemson is beatable and has looked so multiple times this season.

They have a depleted defensive front and secondary after losing a lot of talent to last year’s NFL draft, and sophomore quarterback DeShaun Watson will play the best defense he has seen all year. Penn State has all the offensive firepower they need to compete as long as they can stay competitive in the first half.

If they play Ohio State, they beat them before, so they can do it again.

Final score if they play Clemson: Penn State 48 – Clemson 45; final score if they play Ohio State: Penn State 30 – Ohio State 28.

Now this is all an extremely bold prediction. Penn State could end up not making the playoff at all, even if they win the Big Ten title game. However, Penn State fans should at least realize one thing: they are a team that is ready to compete with college football’s best, and with Franklin stealing four- and five-star recruits from top schools, they are not going anywhere. That is why you give a coach time to develop, and that is how Penn State could end 2016 as the champion of college football.

The editorials of The Quill reflect the views of individual members of the editorial board. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the entire editorial board or of the university. The content of the Forum page is the responsibility of the editor in chief and the Forum editor.

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