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DID PENN STATE’S UPSET OF OHIO STATE HEAL ANYONE?
It was a great night for Penn State (35) football and its fans Saturday when the Nittany Lions shocked No. 2 Ohio State. It was undoubtedly a satisfying night for their coach, James Franklin (36), who had been catching heat for failing to produce immediate magic in year three of an ongoing rebuilding effort.
But was it really a healing night? Because that’s what Franklin said postgame.
“I’m just happy for our kids,” he told ESPN’s Sam Ponder on the field in the immediate aftermath. “The former players, the lettermen, this town has been through a lot. So, this is the start of our healing process tonight. I couldn’t be prouder.”
Later, Franklin told reporters that the victory was “a big step in the right direction in terms of healing.”
There was some collective wincing from the outside world at those words. A “healing process” implies a significant wound, and the truly significant wounds at Penn State cannot be healed by any football victory.
The wounds inflicted by Jerry Sandusky and those who enabled him aren’t healed by a blocked field goal that was returned for the winning touchdown. There are no victims of that horror who felt better because the Nittany Lions beat a ranked opponent for the first time since 2013. Nor did this end the conflict between the JoeBots waging a crusade for a deceased coach and those Penn Staters striving to move on.
It helped Penn State football fans feel better about their football program than they have in many, many years – which is not insignificant. And it undoubtedly increased support for Franklin – that’s certainly significant to him. Happy Saturdays in Happy Valley are welcomed by all who wear blue and white.
But a healing process?
That’s ascribing too much. Turning football victories into something bigger than football victories is part of what got Penn State into a dark place to begin with. Mythologizing the program and its leader helped create a too-big-to-fail mentality that ultimately led to a catastrophic failure.
Penn State doesn’t want to go back there – certainly not in deed, and hopefully not even in words. James Franklin deserved to be the happiest man in college football Saturday, but his characterization of a great victory could have been better.
DID PENN STATE’S UPSET OF OHIO STATE HEAL ANYONE?
It was a great night for Penn State (35) football and its fans Saturday when the Nittany Lions shocked No. 2 Ohio State. It was undoubtedly a satisfying night for their coach, James Franklin (36), who had been catching heat for failing to produce immediate magic in year three of an ongoing rebuilding effort.
But was it really a healing night? Because that’s what Franklin said postgame.
“I’m just happy for our kids,” he told ESPN’s Sam Ponder on the field in the immediate aftermath. “The former players, the lettermen, this town has been through a lot. So, this is the start of our healing process tonight. I couldn’t be prouder.”
Later, Franklin told reporters that the victory was “a big step in the right direction in terms of healing.”
There was some collective wincing from the outside world at those words. A “healing process” implies a significant wound, and the truly significant wounds at Penn State cannot be healed by any football victory.
The wounds inflicted by Jerry Sandusky and those who enabled him aren’t healed by a blocked field goal that was returned for the winning touchdown. There are no victims of that horror who felt better because the Nittany Lions beat a ranked opponent for the first time since 2013. Nor did this end the conflict between the JoeBots waging a crusade for a deceased coach and those Penn Staters striving to move on.
It helped Penn State football fans feel better about their football program than they have in many, many years – which is not insignificant. And it undoubtedly increased support for Franklin – that’s certainly significant to him. Happy Saturdays in Happy Valley are welcomed by all who wear blue and white.
But a healing process?
That’s ascribing too much. Turning football victories into something bigger than football victories is part of what got Penn State into a dark place to begin with. Mythologizing the program and its leader helped create a too-big-to-fail mentality that ultimately led to a catastrophic failure.
Penn State doesn’t want to go back there – certainly not in deed, and hopefully not even in words. James Franklin deserved to be the happiest man in college football Saturday, but his characterization of a great victory could have been better.
