EAST LANSING, Mich. – Everyone's so enamored with using metrics and numbers to judge everything these days. But it's not that complicated to assess the chasm between the top three teams in the Big Ten's East division and the fourth-place one.
Anyone with eyeballs and memories and cable TV can do it. It's the space between a McLaren and a Ferrari and a Lambo racing three abreast down a desert highway and somewhere back there a Hyundai Elantra. The Elantra is a dependable, affordable car. I own two. But it does not belong in a competition with supercars.
And that's about what James Franklin is up against here. After the completion of his second year in the Big Ten, punctuated by a pair of italic exclamation points applied by Michigan last week and Michigan State here on Saturday, could that be any clearer?
That is the inescapable takeaway as Penn State awaits assignment to a bowl game befitting a 7-5 team. Yes, there have been some incremental improvements in certain areas. Yes, the recruiting excitement that Franklin has generated could be glimpsed this year in the flesh with the emergence of the electric talents of freshman Saquon Barkley and sophomore Chris Godwin.
But talent and flash and hyperbolic rhetoric are not going to get you by the giants that are Ohio State and Michigan led by master-level coaches Urban Meyer and Jim Harbaugh. And this team that drilled Penn State on Saturday beat them both.
Takeaways from the final game of the regular season. There is a quality going on in all three programs that can only be defined as gravitas. These are serious shops run by serious people.
Penn State under Franklin?
So far, in comparison, his operation feels like a puppet show. And the Michigan State Spartans, run under the all-business countenance of Mark Dantonio, accentuated that contrast with a 55-16 dismantlement that began slowly and, piece by piece, took apart the battling Nittany Lions until they had no fight left. It was impressive stuff.
What, I asked Franklin, should Penn State fans make of this? Yes, they are aware of the spot from which he and his staff began two years ago. But, man, after the decisive losses to the Big Three in his second season, how can PSU backers have any hope to climb the standings?
Franklin's response was prefaced by his usual Tony Robbins stuff about "killing it" in the recruiting, the class room and the community, noting along the way that 2016 would be the first full scholarship complement. Then, he got to the real answer, such that it was: "We obviously have a lot of work to do, all of us. But good things are coming. I feel very, very confident in that. We've showed it in flashes. But whenever you play the upper-tier teams in this league and in the country -- we haven't been able to get it done at that level yet. "We improved on our conference record from last year (4-4 from 2-6). But the upper-tier teams in this conference, we gotta close the gap on them. There's no doubt about it."
There was little in the way of positives to come out of Saturday's loss to Michigan State for the Lions, but two skill players continue to show promise. Well, how does that happen? I say it happens not with great skill players like Barkley and Godwin, though, of course, they're sparkly baubles to have. I think you have to build outward from the trenches. And, despite the uproar over offensive strategy this year from fans, I contend that your options are so limited with the type of offensive line Penn State has been putting on the field the last two years – a unit built with the retreads from the sanction-crippled O'Brien regime. You can only camouflage it with finesse play-calling for so long.
And like Michigan and Ohio State before, it was the disparity between Penn State's offensive line and that of the opponent that was the difference in this game. While Christian Hackenberg was beat up and sacked three times, one uncounted because of an accepted penalty, the Spartans' front kept Connor Cook pristine as a prom king. Returning from a shoulder injury suffered against Rutgers – a game in which he was knocked down nine times by the Knights – in this contest, he sat in a rocking chair.
"Nope, they never touched me once," said Cook. "Our O-line did a great job. "They played their best game today. Kept me very well protected and blocked very well in the run game as well. I could stand back there with time and feel safe. It's a pretty good situation."
Of course, the loss of Carl Nassib (nation-leading 15½ sacks) to injury had something to do with that. But this is the same MSU starting OL unit that has overcome its own injuries to reassemble during November and dominate Ohio State last week in Columbus. Michigan State does not have either a running back who can remotely compare to Barkley or a wideout as good as Godwin. But they don't need either with that O-line controlling the game.
Forget the finishing fireworks where Dantonio decided to hand the ball to one of those linemen, center Jack Allen, and allow the 280-pounder barrel off right tackle for nine yards and a Fridge Perry-like touchdown. The game was decided in the third quarter when Michigan State kept the ball for 20 of the first 24 plays, composed two long TD drives and went ahead 34-10.
When will Franklin ever be able to murder a game like that?
From the looks of it, not anytime soon. Not only was his line utterly incapable of such control for the last two years, it's hard to see how next year's will be a lot better. The current group simply doesn't have much natural ability. And the three redshirt freshmen who one would think could be seeing some playing time now if they were ready – tackles Noah Beh, Chance Sorrell and Brendan Brosnon – almost never get any run anywhere but special teams. The current redshirts? Who knows? It takes time to build a lineman just like it does a line. Maybe Ryan Bates of Archbishop Wood can step in and play right away next year with no experience. But that doesn't happen often.
Lions' defense fails to register a sack or a tackle for loss.
Make no pretense about why this game was won. I think Penn State had potentially the three best skill-position players on the field on Saturday. Given the resources Cook has had at MSU, I think Hackenberg would be in his place, ticketed for a possible first-round draft pick. Godwin and Barkley are headed in that direction even without the help.
But Michigan State owned this game because its offensive line allowed exactly one quarterback hurry, no sacks and not a single tackle for loss against a defense that's specialized in the stat. Meanwhile, the Spartan defense recorded the two sacks, five TFLs and five QB hurries.
There, you got your numbers. But you didn't need them. Neither did you when the Lions played Ohio State and Michigan. You could see the difference with your eyes.
It is stark and I don't see how it's narrowing much anytime soon.
LINK:
http://www.pennlive.com/pennstatefo...tball_michigan_s_3.html#incart_2box_topmobile
DAVID JONES: djones@pennlive.com
Anyone with eyeballs and memories and cable TV can do it. It's the space between a McLaren and a Ferrari and a Lambo racing three abreast down a desert highway and somewhere back there a Hyundai Elantra. The Elantra is a dependable, affordable car. I own two. But it does not belong in a competition with supercars.
And that's about what James Franklin is up against here. After the completion of his second year in the Big Ten, punctuated by a pair of italic exclamation points applied by Michigan last week and Michigan State here on Saturday, could that be any clearer?
That is the inescapable takeaway as Penn State awaits assignment to a bowl game befitting a 7-5 team. Yes, there have been some incremental improvements in certain areas. Yes, the recruiting excitement that Franklin has generated could be glimpsed this year in the flesh with the emergence of the electric talents of freshman Saquon Barkley and sophomore Chris Godwin.
But talent and flash and hyperbolic rhetoric are not going to get you by the giants that are Ohio State and Michigan led by master-level coaches Urban Meyer and Jim Harbaugh. And this team that drilled Penn State on Saturday beat them both.
Takeaways from the final game of the regular season. There is a quality going on in all three programs that can only be defined as gravitas. These are serious shops run by serious people.
Penn State under Franklin?
So far, in comparison, his operation feels like a puppet show. And the Michigan State Spartans, run under the all-business countenance of Mark Dantonio, accentuated that contrast with a 55-16 dismantlement that began slowly and, piece by piece, took apart the battling Nittany Lions until they had no fight left. It was impressive stuff.
What, I asked Franklin, should Penn State fans make of this? Yes, they are aware of the spot from which he and his staff began two years ago. But, man, after the decisive losses to the Big Three in his second season, how can PSU backers have any hope to climb the standings?
Franklin's response was prefaced by his usual Tony Robbins stuff about "killing it" in the recruiting, the class room and the community, noting along the way that 2016 would be the first full scholarship complement. Then, he got to the real answer, such that it was: "We obviously have a lot of work to do, all of us. But good things are coming. I feel very, very confident in that. We've showed it in flashes. But whenever you play the upper-tier teams in this league and in the country -- we haven't been able to get it done at that level yet. "We improved on our conference record from last year (4-4 from 2-6). But the upper-tier teams in this conference, we gotta close the gap on them. There's no doubt about it."
There was little in the way of positives to come out of Saturday's loss to Michigan State for the Lions, but two skill players continue to show promise. Well, how does that happen? I say it happens not with great skill players like Barkley and Godwin, though, of course, they're sparkly baubles to have. I think you have to build outward from the trenches. And, despite the uproar over offensive strategy this year from fans, I contend that your options are so limited with the type of offensive line Penn State has been putting on the field the last two years – a unit built with the retreads from the sanction-crippled O'Brien regime. You can only camouflage it with finesse play-calling for so long.
And like Michigan and Ohio State before, it was the disparity between Penn State's offensive line and that of the opponent that was the difference in this game. While Christian Hackenberg was beat up and sacked three times, one uncounted because of an accepted penalty, the Spartans' front kept Connor Cook pristine as a prom king. Returning from a shoulder injury suffered against Rutgers – a game in which he was knocked down nine times by the Knights – in this contest, he sat in a rocking chair.
"Nope, they never touched me once," said Cook. "Our O-line did a great job. "They played their best game today. Kept me very well protected and blocked very well in the run game as well. I could stand back there with time and feel safe. It's a pretty good situation."
Of course, the loss of Carl Nassib (nation-leading 15½ sacks) to injury had something to do with that. But this is the same MSU starting OL unit that has overcome its own injuries to reassemble during November and dominate Ohio State last week in Columbus. Michigan State does not have either a running back who can remotely compare to Barkley or a wideout as good as Godwin. But they don't need either with that O-line controlling the game.
Forget the finishing fireworks where Dantonio decided to hand the ball to one of those linemen, center Jack Allen, and allow the 280-pounder barrel off right tackle for nine yards and a Fridge Perry-like touchdown. The game was decided in the third quarter when Michigan State kept the ball for 20 of the first 24 plays, composed two long TD drives and went ahead 34-10.
When will Franklin ever be able to murder a game like that?
From the looks of it, not anytime soon. Not only was his line utterly incapable of such control for the last two years, it's hard to see how next year's will be a lot better. The current group simply doesn't have much natural ability. And the three redshirt freshmen who one would think could be seeing some playing time now if they were ready – tackles Noah Beh, Chance Sorrell and Brendan Brosnon – almost never get any run anywhere but special teams. The current redshirts? Who knows? It takes time to build a lineman just like it does a line. Maybe Ryan Bates of Archbishop Wood can step in and play right away next year with no experience. But that doesn't happen often.
Lions' defense fails to register a sack or a tackle for loss.
Make no pretense about why this game was won. I think Penn State had potentially the three best skill-position players on the field on Saturday. Given the resources Cook has had at MSU, I think Hackenberg would be in his place, ticketed for a possible first-round draft pick. Godwin and Barkley are headed in that direction even without the help.
But Michigan State owned this game because its offensive line allowed exactly one quarterback hurry, no sacks and not a single tackle for loss against a defense that's specialized in the stat. Meanwhile, the Spartan defense recorded the two sacks, five TFLs and five QB hurries.
There, you got your numbers. But you didn't need them. Neither did you when the Lions played Ohio State and Michigan. You could see the difference with your eyes.
It is stark and I don't see how it's narrowing much anytime soon.
LINK:
http://www.pennlive.com/pennstatefo...tball_michigan_s_3.html#incart_2box_topmobile
DAVID JONES: djones@pennlive.com
