For Penn State, a New 'Alignment' Breeds Playoff Hopes

The Lions squandered their momentum of 2016. James Franklin envisions a different turn after the Rose Bowl.

In October, before Penn State hosted Ohio State, members of the State College Quarterback Club experienced a unique moment. For the first time in the organization's history, the football coach, athletic director and university president all spoke at the same event.

Three days later, the Lions took a fourth-quarter lead against the Buckeyes and ostensibly were about 9 minutes from making their first College Football Playoff appearance. Though that game unraveled in a 44-31 loss, Penn State rebounded to win its last five games, including the Rose Bowl, to push itself back to the brink of playoff contention after a two-year detour.

Now, as they did after the 2016 season, the Lions confront their next hurdle: Actually making the playoff. Penn State went 11-2 this season, losing only to Michigan and Ohio State, which were a combined nine points from meeting each other for the national championship.

The Lions capped 2022 with a rousing 35-21 win over Utah in the Rose Bowl to earn a No. 7 ranking in the final AP Top 25 college football poll. Outgoing players predicted that the bowl victory would be a launch pad. Safety Ji'Ayir Brown said Penn State would make the playoff "sooner rather than later," while center Juice Scruggs predicted that would happen next year.

"Honestly, it should have happened this year," Brown said.

Penn State certainly carries a rich collection of talent into 2023. Of the 23 players named all-Big Ten, 13 are back or eligible to return. That includes Nicholas Singleton, the Big Ten freshman of the year, and fellow freshman all-Americans Abdul Carter and Kaytron Allen.

Further, the Lions plan to return their entire coaching staff, notably all three coordinators for the first time since 2017. And, as Franklin said, they have unprecedented "alignment" across university levels behind their head coach.

So now, the question for Penn State should not be if it makes the College Football Playoff, but when. Franklin and the Lions have plenty on their side heading into 2023.

Capitalizing on Their Momentum

On his Oct. 27 radio show, Franklin candidly assessed how Penn State capitalized on its 2016 Big Ten championship season. To summarize: not well enough.

“The reality is," Franklin said, "if you look at it when we won [the Big Ten title] in 2016, we had phenomenal momentum in that time, and we really should have capitalized on that momentum and been bold and aggressive."

Six years later, Penn State is in a similar situation. The Lions began the 2016 unranked and finished seventh in the final AP Top 25. They did the same in 2022, going from unranked to No. 7 with a Rose Bowl victory this time. After that victory, two of the university's most important administrators joined the celebration.

Among the first people Franklin embraced after the game were University President Neeli Bendapudi and Athletic Director Patrick Kraft. Franklin has used the word "alignment" more often this season than any other, and that moment in the rain at Rose Bowl Stadium underscored why.

Bendapudi spoke not only at the State College Quarterback Club but also at the team's football banquet in December. "She crushed it," Franklin said. "She's just so positive, so energetic. She just had the whole room kind of eating out of her hand."

Likewise is Kraft, who sat next to Franklin on flights to road games, has been a vivid presence on the sideline all season and who swallowed Franklin in a post-Rose Bowl bear hug. The first-year athletic director began his tenure by asking Franklin one question: "What do we have to do to win a national championship?"

Franklin said Bendapudi and Kraft have aligned their visions with him around that question.

"This is no knock on anybody, but I do think for the first time from the Board [of Trustees] to the President, to the AD, to the head football coach, we have a chance to have an alignment for really the first time," Franklin said on that October radio show. "This is extremely competitive and it is extremely competitive year-round. And the more wins that we can get in the offseason, the better chance we’re going to be able to do it on Saturdays. Because the margin of error is so small.

"And I know after nine years, I could not be more excited about Dr. Bendapudi and Dr. Kraft, and not just for our football program, but really for our entire athletic department. I think it’s going to be exciting and I think you’re going to be happy with the results you see moving forward.”

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Chasing Ohio State and Michigan

For the fifth time in his nine seasons, Franklin's team lost to both the Wolverines and Buckeyes. The nature of that chase will change when the Big Ten realigns and the 12-team playoff arrives. Though the Lions are looking upward, they're drawing closer.

As ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit said, "It's hard to imagine not having Penn State in the playoff as we move forward into this next era of college football."

"I just feel like they're a program that's where Michigan was prior to last year, kind of knocking on the door, but not quite getting that signature win to be able to get them into the playoff," Herbstreit said on a media conference call before the Rose Bowl. "But it doesn't mean they're way beyond even imagining that. They're right there."

On his podcast, Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt called Penn State a rising program, notably because of its young talent.

"The best part of Penn State is their youth," Klatt said. "So that's a scary proposition when you're looking at the rest o the Big Ten and maybe even the Big Ten East next season. ... This Penn State team, I think everything is looking up for them."

But DraftKings analyst Mike Golic Jr. still believes Penn State is looking up at Ohio State and Michigan. Though the Lions were 9 minutes from the playoff, Golic called those a long 9 minutes.

"It’s still a pretty substantial gap, especially right now," Golic said in an interview before the Rose Bowl and CFP semifinals. "The Big Ten is sort of complicated, because Michigan again is like the Giga Big Ten team. Everything about a Big Ten identity we’ve ever thought of, Michigan does at the utmost level.

"And then Ohio State’s got a level of skill talent that no one in the Big Ten can touch. They’re just built different, like an NFL team, in those areas, and I don’t think Penn State really does either of those things better than either of those teams."

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Bringing in the Quarterback

After the Rose Bowl, Penn State offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich was eager to detail Nicholas Singleton's 87-yard touchdown run, the mechanics behind the longest touchdown pass in Rose Bowl history and Sean Clifford's MVP performance.

But when the subject turned to Penn State's offensive future, particularly the College Football Playoff, Yurcich turned terse yet still revealing.

"I'm not Nostradamus," he said. "I'm not going to predict anything, but I like where we're at and I like where we're headed."

The Lions will field one of the Big Ten's more fascinating offenses next season. With Singleton and Allen, Penn State might have the nation's best backfield. Left tackle Olu Fashanu turned down a potential $20 million payday to anchor an experienced and gifted offensive line.

Yurcich's T-formation offense, which relied on a skilled tight end room, was Penn State's breakthrough move of 2022. Now, the offensive coordinator will turn to second-year quarterbacks Drew Allar and Beau Pribula to rev the engine.

Though fans clamored for more Allar this season, Penn State might have done right by the freshman in allowing him to bank reps behind Clifford. Franklin, who spent a season coaching receivers with the Green Bay Packers, drew the comparison of how that organization handled the transition from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers.

"I think there's a ton of value in what Aaron was able to do in being able to sit behind Brett for a few years and learn from that, and when he was able to take over, he was ready," Franklin said. "Obviously Aaron has had an unbelievable career.

"But that kind of impacted me, and you see a lot of quarterbacks that maybe get thrown into the fire before they're ready. I think this was an ideal situation for both Sean from a leadership standpoint and all of our young quarterbacks."

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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. And consider subscribing (button's on the home page) for more great content across the SI.com network.