Five Reasons The National Championship Has Eluded Penn State Since 1986

By Kyle Golik

As I learned at Big Ten Media Days, the “ Good to Great to Elite ” speech by Penn State head coach James Franklin is something Penn State works towards everyday in the program. Franklin embraces the “1-0” mantra every week and doesn’t look backwards or ahead, the Nittany Lions keep their eye on what is immediately in front of them.

Franklin has earned praise from many former lettermen including LaVar Arrington about him being a players coach and exciting to play for. “I would have loved to play for James Franklin,” Arrington said to Nittany Central . “I just want to be who I am. Shape and mold me, let me know if I’m right or if I’m wrong. I have no problem being coached, but allow me to be who I am. That’s something that I believe is the differentiator of the two of them.

“I feel like that’s one of the biggest assets that James Franklin brings to the table," he said. "I’ll just say If you ask me, we got robbed (in 2016), the year we had a tremendous team that won the Big Ten (Conference), and a team that didn’t even win the Big Ten goes into the College Football Playoff (Ohio State). He’s proven that he can be that level of a coach.”

As Arrington sings the praises of Franklin to be a championship coach, with 2024 marking the 30th anniversary of Penn State’s last undefeated and uncrowned team, let’s examine five reasons the National Championship has eluded Penn State since 1986.

NOTE : My desire is to keep this to football matters that happen on the field and things fans can see. With what happened with Jerry Sandusky, The Second Mile, and those complicit in the matter, those are things that are bigger than football. Harming the welfare of children is one of the most heinous things anyone can do, and if included would be the clear No. 1 reason.

#5 Paterno Got Softer With Age & Stuck Around Too Long

All coaches as they age enhance their already mature perspectives and see a bigger picture. Coaches begin to realize more the games they win or lose on Saturday are minor in the grand scheme of things in life.

One of Paterno’s peers, Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden said this during his silver anniversary at Florida State , “Have I changed any? Gotten older and gotten probably more forgiving than when I first started. You know when I got here I’d fire a kid at the drop of a hat. I don’t like to do that anymore.”

We just saw this with Nick Saban at Alabama. While Saban still had an edge, the energy to maintain that edge is draining. All coaches go through it.

While Paterno was still successful, the edge was clear. When you look at what Penn State accomplished between 1966 through 1986, going to 14 New Year’s Six bowls in 21 seasons. This was during a time when bowls were a premium. When bowls became bountiful and Paterno began to soften between 1987 and 2011, Penn State appeared in five New Year’s Six bowls in 25 seasons. If you want to give Penn State credit for a sixth major bowl for the Top 10 matchup against Florida State in the inaugural Blockbuster Bowl, you can, but it still pales in comparison to what was accomplished in Paterno’s first two decades.

To Franklin’s credit, he is getting Penn State back to New Year’s Six bowl competition in five of the previous eight seasons, something that hasn’t been accomplished since Paterno’s “Golden Era” between 1978 and 1986. This is a promising key step in the right direction for Penn State.

#4 Big Game Woes

James Franklin’s record against Top 10 teams is 3-22. That isn’t going to get the job done. Even LaVar Arrington, one of Franklin’s ardent supporters said “We’ve had two coaches post-Joe (Paterno), and we judge them based on what we do against Ohio State and Michigan. What I think about is—Joe didn’t beat Michigan or Ohio State either. I didn’t get a win against (Michigan). Not one. We didn’t beat Michigan. So stop comparing (Franklin) to Joe. That’s the first thing.”

Well I am going to go against Arrington’s wishes, and it is truly a mixed bag when you compare Franklin and Paterno.

Franklin in Top 10 matchups wins 12% of the time, this pales in comparison to Paterno’s 13-29 record between 1987 and 2011 with a 30.9% winning percentage. Neither gets it done for a national championship.

Where Franklin makes up ground on Paterno is Franklin’s record against teams that win nine or more games is 18-27, a 40% winning percentage. Paterno between 1987 and 2011 went 24-58 in those games for a 29.2% winning percentage. Again, neither is where Penn State needs to be to win a national championship, but Franklin from 2016 to present, once the full weight of the sanctions were lifted is 16-19 against teams that finish with nine or more wins. This is very promising of the foundation Franklin has been building at Penn State.

#3 Five-Star Quarterback Bust Rate

When I think of the prized quarterback jewels Penn State has gotten hasn’t exactly been a great hit rate. In the late 1980’s Penn State landed Tony Sacca, who was seen as the top quarterback prospect along with Todd Marinovich in the Class of 1988, had a mixed career.

Kerry Collins absolutely delivered for Penn State. That was Paterno’s biggest hit in his final quarter century at Penn State.

After Collins it got real sketchy at times, while Michael Robinson was a Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year at quarterback, Robinson was a running back for the majority of time at Penn State.

Daryll Clark was Big Ten Most Valuable Player in 2009, but he wasn’t a highly touted prospect.

One of Paterno’s major recruiting wins was landing five-star Anthony Morelli, and Penn State never was able to get the most out of Morelli. I will never say Christian Hackenberg was a bust, the fact he kept his commitment to Penn State at a time he could have left I am grateful. Hackenberg wasn’t set up for success, and wasn’t the type of quarterback James Franklin seeks for his offense.

While Franklin has a Hackenberg type quarterback now in Drew Allar , the offense has evolved to get the most out of Allar. The jury is still out on Allar, but after a promising first year as a starter, the expectations are only growing for Allar to hopefully meet them.

What is promising is Franklin recognizes the importance of the quarterback in today’s game, “We're a quarterback-driven game, whether it's in the NFL, college, or high school, and having a returning quarterback at that position that did some phenomenal things -- I think he was second in touchdown to interception ratio. I think he broke the national record in completions without an interception. So did some phenomenal things. We've got to build on that. Then I think the pieces of the puzzle around him -- tight end, running back, and then receiver -- has been the big question mark really since last year. We've got a ton of confidence in that room.”

#2 Paterno’s Recruiting Philosophy

As Paterno aged, the recruiting philosophy got stale and some of Paterno’s recruiting strategies came back to bite Paterno.

One such example was the desire for the Manning Brothers, Peyton and Eli, to play for Joe Paterno. In a New York Times profile on Paterno from 2004:

“When Archie Manning, the former N.F.L. quarterback, pleaded with Paterno to recruit his son Peyton, Paterno declined. When Manning pleaded with Paterno to recruit another son, Eli, a few years later, Paterno again declined. Peyton went to Tennessee and is now a superstar in the N.F.L.; Eli went to Mississippi and was selected by the New York Giants as the first pick in this year's draft. Paterno explained his reason for not recruiting either of the Mannings to a Penn State magazine: ''I didn't want to waste my time. I knew they'd play in the South.''

I am not suggesting Peyton and Eli Manning would have become Nittany Lions for sure, but to not even attempt to recruit them epitomized the mediocrity Penn State endured in the final quarter century of Paterno. At least Franklin was able to lure Chad Powers to Happy Valley.

To Franklin’s credit, he is as aggressive as any and isn’t afraid to go into recruiting hotbeds that Penn State avoided under Paterno. I doubt Kaytron Allen , a highly touted prospect from the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, would ever have been a Nittany Lion under Paterno. Franklin’s connections to land highly touted prospects from local Pittsburgh high schools like Woodland Hills (Miles Sanders), Aliquippa (Tiqwai Hayes), Clairton (LaMont Wade), schools that were pipelines to Pitt, Ohio State, Michigan, and Notre Dame are now open to Penn State is a stark contrast to how Paterno operated things.

#1 Penn State Slow To Adapt

I get Penn State not being a “first mover” at things, but I feel Penn State has had difficulty at least positioning itself to being a “second mover” after it sees how other schools get it done.

A couple classic examples came from Paterno’s hesitation to embrace recruiting Florida. ''Florida has not been a recruiting hotbed for us,'' said former Penn State offensive coordinator Fran Ganter . ''We haven't put in the effort. If something comes to us -- we're looking for them, but maybe our reputation for a conservative offense doesn't appeal to some kids. In today's game, superior players dictate the outcome of a game. Running backs and wide receivers. The darters and jukers. It's not as much about coaching anymore.''

Paterno’s old-fashioned ways were also detrimental to recruiting when he wouldn’t allow any outsider to watch practice. This was something that was mind blowing for Ganter when he saw it happen at Florida State during their peak under Bobby Bowden, ''I don't know any other way. I visited FSU once and saw 50 kids sitting on a hill watching practice. You don't want anyone seeing someone berate a kid and see it in the paper the next day. I don't look at it as secrecy but as tuning out distractions.''

While Franklin has addressed most of these concerns, the burning issues for his program surround resources for coaches, as staffs get bigger than they ever were. NIL will always be on the forefront as no one has a clue how to standardize it nationally. Essentially it is the Wild West. Then with facility upgrades being debated for Beaver Stadium and the athletic facilities, the price tag has some trustees wanting to drag anchor on it. In major athletics, facilities and amenities are an arms races that Penn State can ill afford to lose if it would like to win a national championship.