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Don’t call last year a disappointment. The Nittany Lions didn’t lose a game by more than four points – if you overlook the scoop-and-score from the OSU game and consider the Opt-out Bowl an outlier. Twelve student-athletes graduated to NFL rosters, eight by way of the draft. Most importantly: 15 current and former Penn State players received diplomas this past May.

Is it possible to lose half your defense to the NFL one year and have a better team the season after? Ok, that’s a loaded question; I’ll scrape off some of the sour cream and bacon bits. I’ve graded and ranked each position group of Penn State’s 2022 roster. After doing so, one thing is clear: James Franklin’s team will have a very different identity come the first of September.

Scale: F – Unacceptable, D – Below-the-line, C – Average, B – Good, A – Great

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For the Nittany Lions, The Road Too Often Traveled To Start Conference Play Has Been On The Road — a Discrepancy Penn State’s New AD  Won’t Let Be Dismissed as a Coincidence Anymore

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This year’s Big Ten Media Days offered Penn State football’s top brass an opportunity to vent.

During James Franklin’s turn at the podium, the Nittany Lions’ head coach took a subtle shot at the frequency with which his team has been scheduled to open conference play on the road (seven straight years counting 2022, and 12 of the last 13). Later on, when a reporter questioned Dr. Pat Kraft about the topic, State’s new athletic director assumed a more direct approach. With a brand of candor uncommon to his profession or employer, Kraft made his view plain: “It stinks.” He went on to describe an appeal to the league office seeking relief.

But how big of a beef do James and his new boss really have?

Penn State fans absolutely love to complain about discriminatory treatment from the Big Ten. Any number of Blue and White backers will insist that what could simply be innocent quirks of a complicated scheduling process, in fact, characterize a pattern of mistreatment that predates the retirement of Bo Schembechler. To these impassioned partisans, their beloved program endures a special and exclusive aggrieved status.

Turns out, at least in this case, they’re right!

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