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Introduction

For you Glass-Half-Fullers out there, the Penn State Nittany Lions finished the 2021 regular season with a winning record, which is something we couldn’t say at the end of last year. That’s the good. But for you Glass-Half-Empty Sky Screamers, the fact that the Nittany Lions slipped on several banana peels (starting roughly around the 10-minute mark of the 2^nd Quarter vs. Iowa) while stumbling across the finish line was hard to swallow and will leave an unpleasant aftertaste for the next 9 months. From 5-0 and No. 4 in the country to 2-5 in the last 7 and a non-New Year’s Day bowl participant. That’s the bad. Issues abound on both sides of the ball – issues we’ll have plenty of time to talk about in February and March as we wait for the snow to melt.

Today, though, let’s focus on the debacle in East Lansing. After gifting Michigan State a quick 14-point lead, the Lions fought back to take the lead before literally fumbling it away. Toss in an uncharacteristically poor defensive performance, missed kicks, and a complete lack of a running game and you have a recipe for disaster. Post-Pick-6 until about 2-minutes left in the 4^th, the wheels fell off and a season that blossomed with so much promise and hope cruelly wilted in the arms of Spartans WR Jayden Reed during a rather nonthreatening onside kick attempt.

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In the grand scheme of things, this one didn’t mean anything. Penn State said as much on Tuesday, when it locked up James Franklin for 10 more years even though his team had dropped nine games in the previous 12-plus months.

Win, lose or tie, the Nittany Lions’ coaching future was set long before they kicked off one of the snowier games you’ll see against yet another ranked opponent, their sixth of the year. So, considering the outcome wouldn’t really affect anything other than which lower-tiered bowl destination was in Penn State’s future, there was no reason for anyone to get too worked up about the result, right?

Well …

Once again, this flawed but feisty team did just enough to make you believe the game was in its grasp while simultaneously failing to get out of its own way at just about every crucial juncture.

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If you’re a Penn State fan and you love James Franklin, Tuesday was a great day.

If you’re a Penn State fan and you’ve had your fill of James Franklin, it was a pretty good day, too.

The university announced a handsome contract extension for the Nittany Lions’ eight-year football coach that will keep him — barring buyout — with the program through the 2031 season, a not-so-surprising end to a not-so-secretive two-month stretch of negotiations between the coach (OK, his agent, Jimmy Sexton) and the administration.

The obvious upshot is continued or reinforced stability. Penn State, which will be bringing in a new president within the next year, gets to avoid a potentially ugly divorce and a coaching search in a year without a lot of enticing names on the market. Franklin gets to continue to chase a national title in his home state and one of the best (not-yet-signed) recruiting classes the program has collected in some time gets to breathe a little easier, as do the hordes of fans whose sleep quality is strongly proportional to those recruits’ decisions.

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Introduction

Yes, I know it was Rutgers. And, yes, I know that Rutgers is Rutgers. But don’t rain on my parade, man. During a season that started out sweet, devolved into sour, and no matter what happens next Saturday will be tough to swallow in the end, Penn State’s 28-0 blanking of the Scarlet Knights in the home finale was oddly satisfying. The Nittany Lions defense totally dominated the overmatched Rutgers offense while, on the other side of the ball, a true freshman QB provided a much needed shot in the arm (pun intended) against a not-so-bad Rutgers defense. The team — not just one particular unit –played well in a performance that had us thinking back to the better days of September and early October.

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With all of the exuberance and, dare we say, catharsis surrounding Penn State’s maple-flavored second-half offensive explosion on Saturday, it was easy to forget that the Nittany Lions punted on eight of their first nine possessions against Rutgers.

A short-handed and virus-plagued unit wasn’t faring much better than the inconsistent, sniffle-free offense that had taken the field in Penn State’s first 10 games, and yet, even though Jordan Stout was getting far more first-half touches than Jahan Dotson, the Nittany Lions were in no danger of falling behind an inferior opponent because their defense was, once again, completely in charge.

Right now, a decent chunk of Penn State fans (and maybe, not-so-very deep down, some of the Nittany Lions themselves) are playing a tortuous “What if?” game, and swapping scrappy rookie QB Christian Veilleux in for an ineffective Ta’Quan Roberson and/or a not-at-100% Sean Clifford at a few key junctures over the last month, if only in their imaginations. Would the Nittany Lions have one more win? Two more? Three more? Fou…

…well, even fantasies have their limits.

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Introduction

There’s no sugarcoating it: As a fan, that absolutely sucked.

After a quarter of play it looked like Penn State would play the role of spoiler against the Wolverines. The Nittany Lions dominated total yards in the initial stanza to the tune of 145 to 15, drove deep in Michigan territory in each of their first two possessions while the defense ushered the winged helmets off the field with two 3-and-outs. But, despite that yardage discrepancy, Penn State could only muster 3 points, which allowed Michigan to keep doing Michigan things and not panic. The emotional rollercoaster that ensued proved far more stressful than entertaining as we watched Erick All effectively seal the deal with a 47-yard touchdown reception.

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It has been difficult these past two autumns to know exactly which Penn State team you are watching at any given moment.

Is it the discombobulated, self-destructive group that went 0-5 to start 2020 and has dropped four of five in 2021? Or the explosive, gritty squad that won four straight to end last season and emerged triumphant from early-season heavyweight bouts against Wisconsin and Auburn? Is it overachieving? Is it underachieving? Is it all of those teams at once, or none of them at all?

I suppose it depends upon your perspective, whether you’re a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty type of person, whether you believe that talent or recruiting rankings should set the expectation bar or if you think that winning football is more about teamwork and desire and cohesion.

No matter what kind of team you thought Penn State was or what you thought it was supposed to be, though, Saturday’s loss to Michigan had to be five kinds of painful. A legitimate chance to beat a top-10 opponent, a hated rival and an easy-to-hate coach, plus the opportunity to add a signature win to a season that still didn’t have one and keep hopes alive for a big bowl. And, somehow, even after all the missed opportunities and sacks and footballs on the ground, it was in the Nittany Lions’ hands late in the fourth quarter.

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Because life is the way it is, and because we try to work a week in advance when scouting Penn State’s opponents, 75 percent of what you’re about to read might be obsolete in 24 hours. The reason? Well, Michigan is pretty banged up.

As of Friday, the status of the following playmakers was still unknown: RB2 Blake Corum, RB3 Donovan Edwards, TE1 Erick All, breakout WR Andrel Anthony and WR AJ Henning.

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