Penn State scorn versus Michigan State scorn

How has what worked out? Franklin's not going anywhere.

(Bookmarked for six months later when I could have egg on my face.)

 

I think a decent amount of Penn State's fanbase is fine with 10-2 and a bowl win, which in comparison to my school, is still a decent season. I think what a lot of the fanbase is tired of is Franklin constantly having his hand out -- contract extension, facility upgrades, another contract extension, NIL, hey gotta have these dorms AND a contract extension -- and the result is still the same. Then you look at the Who those wins are against: Three tomato can opponents, a so-so P5 team (WVU, Auburn, Temple, Syracuse, the only reason Pitt got a four-game series was it was inked during the Sandusky scandal and they needed positive PR), and a B1G schedule that includes Indiana, Maryland, Rutgers and a couple of crossover games with the Big West. In reality, PSU has nine-built wins most seasons.

For all I've heard for the last nine years about his crooting, plus the financial commitment that comes with having 100,000 paying customers, the results are underwhelming -- and I think the lightbulb is coming on for many of them. And his one win against OSU came on the luckiest of bounces on a blocked kick.

 

Shit-canning 10-2 coaches backfires more often than not

But what BYM said is true, the hand is always out. The Mel Tucker-like contract was an embarrassment.

 

All true. And the difficulty there is in the NIL. Because the Pandora's box has been opened, and a school is just going to have to keep shelling out more and more to remain a blue-blood.

Now, wicked said hiring a Callahan type would lead to a half-full Beaver Stadium. In no way do I believe that, because much of that crowd is not there to analyze football. They are there for the tailgate.

 

Slight exaggeration. But when I was there, during the Really Bad Paterno Years, there were plenty of empty seats.

Get five years of 3-9 or 4-8 and you're gonna see a lot fewer people who want to drive over the mountain on a crap-ass Saturday in November. The trip is still a shitty one.

 

It is indeed a crapfest. But it's a crapfest that people spend months looking forward to.

 

I've observed that PSU fans are Pitt fans on a much larger scale in some ways. They skew older and a lot got involved during the glory days of the 70s and 80s and have turned it into a fall ritual. That said, a LOT of these old Boomers are not on board with NIL because (1) they're of the mindset that these kids "get a free education and that is enough" and (2) they think that should be be picked up by some wealthy booster and not Joe Pensioner. I've felt for a while that if PSU got serious about NIL (or the fans did) they'd bury Pitt, WVU and the rest of the region.

 

You forgot No. 3: "Those kids from the city are making money selling drugs, they don't need NIL money!" Not exactly a progressive fan base up that way. After the sit-in at the spring game one year, you would've thought "those people" had breached the impenetrable moat surrounding State College.

 

Quick funny story, which is also pathetic.

My uncle is a PSU grad who is now 80. Had season tickets for 50 years and his parking pass is right next to the stadium and $5,000 a year. He showed up at my wedding last year and, as the topic drifted towards college football, started grumbling about how NIL and the portal were ruining the game.

"Know the difference between my generation and yours?" he grumbled.

What's that?

"My generation, 60-percent of these teams were white."

Keep in mind my wife is mixed. She had a field day with that.

So, good luck Penn State (And Pitt, which has more than its fair share of morons) getting that NIL coin.

 

That could have been a topic of discussion for the whole crowd at many coal-cracker wedding receptions. All of whom would have been lined up on your uncle's side.

 

A lot of Notre Dame fans online are super quick to reason away any loss to a team from the SEC by saying those schools are recruiting kids that couldn’t possibly be smart enough to get into ND. And every dog in a half-mile radius jerks his head around accordingly.

 

I'm still surprised someone hasn't taken a crack at making a "Succession-like" show set on a college campus, focused on the administration, touching on the athletic department, academic senate/union issues, donors on the board. It could be an extremely cynical and darkly funny send-up that those who value college would find hilarious, and people who hate higher education would watch and say "See? I was right! they're all idiots!"
The out of touch political statements/stances, the hypocricy, the hook-ups, the bad financial decisions, back-room dealings, the woke-ness run amok. The pilot could focus on the student paper taking down a major campus leader...