STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Season openers in college football should be viewed in the same way a drunk views a lamppost: for support and not illumination.
If you thought Penn State was a pretender heading into the year, an overtime win against Appalachian State provides early confirmation. If you thought the Nittany Lions were for real, on the other hand, there was just enough from last weekend’s come-from-behind win to support that claim, too.
This is part of life on the second level of college football’s top tier. It’s not a bad life, better than nearly everyone else in the Football Bowl Subdivision, and it’s not an easy point to reach: Penn State had to fight through sanctions, grind through scholarship reductions and reach back-to-back New Year’s Six bowls to get there, and the Nittany Lions have no plans of going back.
But as much as any single program in the upper section of the Amway Coaches Poll, Penn State doesn’t receive the benefit of the doubt. Most recently, the close call with Appalachian State was ammunition for those already discounting the Nittany Lions’ place in the College Football Playoff conversation.
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“People have always kind of looked past us, always kind of not respected us to the best standard,” said senior linebacker Koa Farmer. “I think that, for me and for this team, if we go out every Saturday to earn and get respect, I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Saturday’s matchup with Pittsburgh presents an opportunity to flip that narrative, if only slightly. More than a touchdown favorite heading into the weekend, Penn State should handle a rival coming off a losing season — if Penn State is really and truly a team capable of winning another Big Ten title and earning a spot in one of the two national semifinals. For now, it’s a question without an answer.
“That’s just kind of something that outsiders really won’t understand,” said senior cornerback Amani Oruwariye, “that we kind of have a standard here for how we do things and what’s expected and required.”
The national perception of Penn State is mirrored by the national perception of its head coach, James Franklin, now in his fifth season with the program. After back-to-back seven-win finishes to start his tenure, Franklin has led the Nittany Lions to 22 wins, a Fiesta Bowl victory against Washington and a narrow loss to Southern California in a Rose Bowl classic during the past two seasons. The results would suggest a place for both Franklin and Penn State among the elite in coaching and football, respectively. That hasn’t necessarily been the case.
Instead, Penn State is almost an afterthought in the Big Ten race, let alone the chase for the playoff. If not Ohio State in the Big Ten, it’ll be Wisconsin, goes the logic. Michigan had been trendy all preseason, though the Wolverines’ odds plummeted after an opening loss to Notre Dame. On a broader, FBS-wide scale, Penn State isn’t lumped in the same category of Clemson and Alabama, which isn’t wrong. But that the Nittany Lions are knocking on that door goes largely unnoticed. On an individual level, Franklin never comes up in the debate for the best coaches in college football.
“That will come with time,” Franklin said.
But when?
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