Is This a 'Make-or-Break' Season for Penn State Football?

After consecutive 10-win regular seasons, the Nittany Lions are "under pressure" in 2024, according to Pro Football Focus.

Penn State head football coach James Franklin answers a question during a press conference in Holuba Hall. / Dan Rainville/USA Today Network - PA /

James Franklin began his first season as Penn State football coach without many expectations. The program was under NCAA sanctions, on its third head coach in four years and still trying to figure out its future.

Two years later, Franklin accelerated the pace of expectations by leading Penn State to an unexpected Big Ten title. What college football's vocal class labeled a decade-long reconstruct, Franklin achieved in his third season at Penn State. Thus, embracing expectations became his slogan.

"When you're in a place like Penn State, you embrace the expectations," Franklin said before Penn State's Peach Bowl appearance against Ole Miss. "That's why you came here. That's for our players, and that's for the coaches, and that's for myself. We embrace the high expectations."

Now, those expectations come with increasing pressure. According to Pro Football Focus, Penn State is one of five programs "under pressure" in 2024. The Nittany Lions have won 10 regular-season games in consecutive seasons and three times in the past five years. They played in three (formerly known as) New Year's Six bowls in that stretch. They have had a total of 22 players selected in the past three NFL Drafts. And yet they have no College Football Playoff appearance to show for it. Penn State's peak moment was a win over Utah in the 2023 Rose Bowl.

As a result, PFF suggests that it's time for Penn State to achieve a new level.

"Making the College Football Playoff will be an easier task in 2024 with 12 teams participating, which means there are no excuses for James Franklin and Penn State not to qualify in what feels like a make-or-break year for the program," PFF's Mitch Kaiser writes.

Penn State opens the 2024 season at West Virginia on Aug. 31 with a new set of coordinators, many of its top offensive skill players returning and several loaded position groups on defense. But similar questions follow the team.

Can a once-explosive offense recapture its downfield magic? Can quarterback Drew Allar and offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki click to unlock his potential? Can defensive coordinator Tom Allen put the Nittany Lions' defensive-line and secondary strengths to use in his system?

"We know how good the defense can be, and if Allar can improve, the offense could be what puts Penn State over the top this season," PFF writes. "Otherwise, there could be major shake-ups coming."

Major "shake-ups" might be overstated, since (as noted) Franklin replaced all three coordinators this offseason, including the former offensive coordinator (Mike Yurcich) he personally courted for two years. Meanwhile, Franklin's 2024 buyout is $56 million, an expensive change for an athletic department building a $700 million Beaver Stadium and athlete revenue-sharing into its future budgets.

Nevertheless, this year is pivotal for Penn State, which needs to make the 12-team College Football Playoff to inject the program with some momentum. Franklin, of course, is aware. While acknowledging his pride regarding the "consistency" his teams have shown, Franklin accepted the pressure to perform.

"We take a lot of pride in the consistency and how we've been able to play over the majority of our time at Penn State, and I think sometimes people take that for granted and don't realize how

challenging that is in today's college football," Franklin said. "For us, it's being appreciative and recognizing what we have done well, but then also taking a deep dive and being very, very transparent and saying where do we need to grow? How do we get better? And how do we attack

those things?"

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AllPennState is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on Twitter @MarkWogenrich.