There is a very good chance Penn State is going to lose its bowl game.
Not for a lack of trying, not for a lack of wanting to do better or having the motivation to win.
But this has been a long season. There have been loads of injuries and more downs than ups, wins and losses, last second defeats and blowout games. The ship never really got steady, it just never sank.
That in its own right is a bit of a victory for Penn State. Yes, the Nittany Lions could have been better and perhaps should have been, but at the end of the day it’s another winning season at the end of another year battered down by the fallout of sanctions and all the lovely things that come with them.
With the removal of John Donovan as offensive coordinator Penn State will now move forward with its search to find someone who can help turn young assets into a more effective and more promising unit. With Saquon Barkley the feature of the offense and a brightening star in Chris Godwin at the receiver spot there are tools to work with.
The puzzle isn’t complete just yet though. Changing a coordinator might give Penn State a new painter to craft the picture with, but it doesn’t change the colors he has to choose from.
That is to say, this thing is going to take some time. A new coach or two isn’t going to change that. If anything it’s the stability and continuity season to season that will help build Penn State back into something more reputable.
To be sure Donovan needed to be replaced, I’ve said as much and am far from the only one to have had that same feeling. Penn State’s offense didn’t struggle entirely because of him, but it wasn’t making the steps it needed to. If nothing else it was a move by James Franklin that allows him some time to continue the rebuilding project.
And that’s really what Franklin has done here. Penn State may have very well succeeded under Donovan a few years down the road, but fans and administrators may have never let the experiment play out that long.
By firing Donovan, Franklin gives a nod to the people who pay his bills and a nod to need for change. He’s loyal to his staff but not at the cost of his own success.
What happens next is anyone’s guess, Penn State in its current 2015 edition is simply a transition between two eras. It’s how the program does going forward from here that will determine how well it is suited for success down the road.
Sunday’s move doesn’t give Franklin a clean slate to do what he wants, but it ought to buy him some more time and some good will from a fan base not eager to hand it out.
Because at the end of the day the second worst sanctions in NCAA history weren’t going to just evaporate overnight. It doesn’t matter who the coach is, or who is calling plays. That’s a reality nothing can change.
