Opinion: Current 3-year run stacks up with program history, nation's best

Penn State head coach James Franklin couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

His Nittany Lion senior class, preparing for its final game at Beaver Stadium, had done so much already. With one final matchup against Maryland on tap before closing the curtains on their careers in front of the Penn State home crowds with which they’d grown so fond, they provided a perfect opportunity to reflect on what they’d already accomplished.

“You start to get to this point in the season and you start to say, ‘I’d like to look back at some point at the end of the season and be able to kind of look at what we've been able to do this year and then what we've really been able to do over the last five years,’” said Franklin. “I’ve heard people say this before: If someone would have told you seven years ago that over these five years we would have done this, this, this, and this. I think most people would have thought you were crazy.”

Saturday afternoon, they added to it.

Stomping the Terrapins to the tune of a 38-3 decision, the Nittany Lions continued what has been one of the most dominating, successful runs at Beaver Stadium in the program’s history.

Just twice, against Ohio State and Michigan State in back-to-back games this season, did Penn State fall in home games in the past three seasons. With the win, that made the Nittany Lions’ home record 19-2 in the past three seasons, matched most recently only by the 2005-07 seasons in which they achieved the same combined mark.

Expanding the field of vision to the Big Ten, Penn State’s three-year win total in conference play has been second only to Ohio State’s. Against conference opponents, the Nittany Lions are a combined 21-6, twice losing to Michigan, twice to Michigan State, and twice to the Buckeyes. Knocking off Wisconsin once in a Big Ten championship game, of course, boosts their record against conference opponents to 22-6.

In the same span, the Buckeyes have gone 25-3 with a conference championship, Michigan has gone 20-7, Michigan State has gone 13-14, Wisconsin 20-7, and Northwestern 20-7.

Nationally, the Nittany Lions’ three-year accomplishments are also significant.

Among Power Five programs, only Alabama (40-2), Clemson (38-3), Oklahoma (34-5), Ohio State (34-5), and Georgia (32-8) have a better overall record in the past three seasons to Penn State’s mark of 31-8 (79.5 winning percentage).

Given what’s transpired at some of the loosely defined blue bloods of college football in the past three seasons, Penn State again stands out. Nebraska has stumbled its way to a 17-20 record. Texas has gone a mere 21-16, Florida State 22-16, Florida 22-14, Auburn 25-14, Southern Cal 26-13, Notre Dame 26-11, Miami 26-10, LSU 26-10, and Michigan 28-10.

Within that group in the past three seasons, Nebraska (twice), Texas (once), Florida State (once), Florida (once), Southern Cal (once), Notre Dame (once), have each had at least one losing season and missed out on at least one bowl appearance.

That Penn State has avoided the same fate, building consistency and stability as many of its elite peers have experienced coaching turnover and lost seasons, is that much more impressive when framed in the context of the post-Joe Paterno state of the program.

Rocked by a scandal beyond the control of anyone still in the program in its aftermath, guided by Bill O’Brien for two seasons and Franklin for each of the last five, the program not only weathered a fierce backlash of public opinion but has, in fact, come out on the other side. In the seven-season span since 2012, Penn State has gone 61-29 overall, above .500 in each season, winning two of four bowl appearances with another opportunity still to come.

Calling the senior class possibly “one of the most impressive” in school history, “all things considered,” Franklin ceded that taking all things into consideration is often an overlooked element when judging the program as it stands today.

And though Franklin and the Nittany Lions have at times dealt with stinging disappointments the past two seasons, most notably in back-to-back 1-point losses to the Buckeyes as well as two losses to the Spartans by a combined seven points, the entirety of Penn State’s production remains impressive.

“There are high expectations and standards here, and there's nobody that has higher expectations and standards than we do,” Franklin said. “But to think that this may be one of the best three-year runs in Penn State's history in the Big Ten era, and kind of where we're standing nationally, in our conference, and things like that, I'm proud.”

As Franklin mentioned, within the Big Ten era, only the 1993-95 seasons with a combined record of 31-5 are a better winning percentage than the past three years. And, likewise, only 2007-09 stand with the same winning percentage as the past three seasons.

Even within the program’s modern history dating back to the start of Paterno’s tenure as head coach in 1966, the Lions’ present 79.5 winning percentage stands tied for sixth for a three-year span. It trails only 1971-73 (33-3 overall; 91.1 percent), 1967-69 (30-3-1; 90.9 percent), and runs of 31-5 (86.1 percent), achieved three times in 1980-82, 1985-87, and 1993-95.

Understanding some of the critiques that have come along the way, even at this relatively young juncture in his career leading the Nittany Lions, what has emerged for Franklin is an undeniable set of achievements and, maybe more important, the shape of progress to carry them further into the future.

“Are there some things that we would have liked to do better, some games we'd like to have back, some plays we'd like to have back? No doubt. But you look around the country, that's a similar tune all over the country,” said Franklin. “I also try to also look at the big picture.”

Leading a group of young men that conducts itself well within the community, in the classroom, and certainly, on the field, it’s a picture of which Franklin, his staff, and Penn State players past and present can be proud.

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