Penn State head coach James FranklinBarry Reeger/Associated Press
I hate to beat a dead horseor a dead Nittany Lion, as it werebut Penn State fell to 0-5 this week with a 41-21 home loss to Iowa.
With each game, things seem to get worse and worse in State College.
In retrospect, losing in overtime at Indiana to open the season wasn’t bad at all. (It’s probably the least impressive thing Indiana accomplished this season.) The subsequent 13-point loss to Ohio State was both expected and understandable. But since then, the Nittany Lions have lost by 16 to Maryland, by seven to then-winless Nebraska and now by 20 to the Hawkeyes.
Iowa didn’t even move the ball all that well, but turnovers were fatal for Penn State. The Nittany Lions committed four of them, including the pick-six in the final two minutes that eliminated any hope of a late comeback.
Then again, punting from midfield with 3:30 remaining in a 13-point game was a clear sign they had no intentions of making that comeback.
They do know that college teams can’t tank for draft position, yes?
That’s a joke, of course, but this season has been a complete disaster for Penn State.
Star linebacker Micah Parsons opted out in August and was one of the few Big Ten players who didn’t change his mind when the league un-postponed its season. The Nittany Lions also lost top running back Journey Brown before the season to a career-ending medical condition. And now they’ll be without tight end Pat Freiermuth for the remainder of the season, as it was announced on Saturday he will undergo season-ending surgery for an injury suffered against Ohio State.
They are already guaranteed their first losing record since 2004, and at this point, it’s really just a question of whether this will be the worst season in program history.
That record currently belongs to the 1931 team that went 2-8. If they win two of their four remaining games (at Michigan, at Rutgers, vs. Michigan State, TBD on Dec. 19), they would finish 2-7, good for the second-worst winning percentage ever. With the way things have been going lately, though, 0-9 is definitely on the table.
But even that wouldn’t be enough to get James Franklin fired, since his buyout is well over $30 million. They just need to take this one on the chin and hope it doesn’t stick with them through future seasons.