In the mind of James Franklin there are probably a lot of reasons the canceled football season has ruined his summer and fall. Some are likely big picture items like the future of the program, the future of the Big Ten and the financial uncertainty surrounding the Penn State Athletic Department as a whole.
But then there are also much more straightforward reasons to be disappointed. For example, as the first AP Poll of the year was released on Monday, the Nittany Lions sit at No. 7, because that’s right, Penn State was probably going to be pretty good this year.
‘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?’ Franklin said last week during a media call with reporters. ‘Yes. So that’s part of the frustration.’
On paper the Nittany Lions would have been solid, albeit not short on the annual questions in need of answering. In a more normal world Micah Parsons would have played, although even if the Big Ten had moved forward with its season Parson’s decision had already been made. Pat Freiermuth’s return would have give Sean Clifford a dependable safety valve and the Nittany Lion defense would have been stout, with or without Parsons leading the way.
Of course everyone is defeated in August, but the Nittany Lions had reason for optimism and reason to believe that yet another successful season lay ahead.
‘That’s been probably one of the frustrations for our players and the parents, and I know our staff of coaches,’ Franklin said. ‘We had a chance to be pretty good. I think we were preseason ranked inside the top 10 on almost everybody’s chart, and we were standing out there those first couple days of practice.
‘I’m looking around and we’ve got a good looking team. We’re big, we’re long, we’re lean, we’ve got a bunch of guys who are over 300 pounds who look like they’re 270, 260. We’re fast, we’re athletic and then we had difference-makers on both sides of the ball.’
In the larger scope, Penn State fans will lament not only the inability to watch a good team, but a home schedule that would have been about as good as any in recent memory. Games against Ohio State, Iowa and Michigan State at Beaver Stadium marked a slate full of playoff building wins and revenue driving weekends. A road trip to Virginia Tech the most interesting out of conference road game that hasn’t involved Pitt.
Of course none of that will happen now, and there’s no telling how the conference will go about making amends for missed home an away opportunities, if it even can, or even has to motivation to upend years of previously scheduled games [everything is scheduled up to 2025]. In turn all things being equal the Buckeyes won’t travel to State College until 2022, a span of nearly four calendar years since the 2018 meeting in Happy Valley.
There is always spring ball, but one imagines things won’t quite be the same with a limited crowd, and of course spring ball has to actually happen first. An idea that sounds good in principle but appears increasingly difficult in reality.
But as things stand on Monday, miles from last season and miles from whatever comes next, people will just take what they can get. Even if it means having to let go of what could have been.
