Penn State checks in at No. 7 in AP Poll, serving as a reminder of what could’ve been
James Franklin surveyed the practice field in early August and liked what he saw. Penn State was only a couple days into its preseason camp, but the head coach’s group already passed the eyeball test.
Franklin said his team was big, long, lean and fast — the Nittany Lions certainly looked the part of a preseason top-10 team. On Monday, Penn State checked in at No. 7 in the preseason AP Poll, confirming what Franklin and others already knew.
But with the Big Ten’s decision to postpone the fall sports season, the Nittany Lions won’t have the chance to prove they can live up to their potential just yet.
“Is that part of it, that you felt like this season had the opportunity or had the chance — not guaranteed, but had the opportunity and had the chance — to be a special season for Penn State? Yes,” Franklin said last week on a Zoom conference call with reporters. “So, that’s part of the frustration.”
This marks the fourth consecutive year Penn State has been ranked in the preseason AP Top 25. The Nittany Lions have finished in the top-10 of the AP Poll three of the last four seasons, landing as high as No. 7 after a Big Ten Championship-winning campaign in 2016.
Franklin still looks to get his team over the hump, though. Penn State has yet to clinch a College Football Playoff berth under Franklin, who’s entering his seventh year at the helm.
Now, that’s a goal that will have to wait. But it’s the thought of what could’ve been that bothers those around the program.
“Obviously, that’s probably one of the frustrations for a lot of our players and the parents, and our staff and coaches,” Franklin said. “We had a chance to be pretty good.”
Both Franklin and Penn State Athletic Director Sandy Barbour have expressed optimism about the possibility for a winter or spring season. Barbour told reporters on a Zoom conference call last week that she believed the general concepts around a potential spring season would be released in the “next week or so.”
With the uncertainty that lies ahead, all Franklin can do now is ensure his team is ready to compete, no matter when that time comes.
“I try not to spend time thinking about the things that I can’t control,” he said. “And I tell the team the same thing and our staff the same thing and our players the same thing. You know, ‘Let’s try to focus on the things that we can control. ’”
This story was originally published August 24, 2020 at 4:48 PM.
