Penn State and SMU carry the weight
of history into their CFP debuts. They're both trying to shed it
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 [December 21, 2024]
By WILL GRAVES
DaQuan Jones remembers the chaos. The uncertainty. The sanctions.
The aftermath.
How could he not? He and the rest of his Penn State teammates —
those that stuck around anyway — lived through it.
Jones was a sophomore defensive lineman in the fall of 2011 when the
Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal brought one of college
football's bluebloods to its knees and sent revered coach Joe
Paterno into exile.
It felt like a tipping point.
“The program could have done a whole tanking and kind of completely
went under,” said Jones.
Only, it didn't. While some transferred out in search of a fresh
start, Jones was among those who stuck around. Bill O'Brien took on
the impossible task of replacing an icon. Walk-ons filled the void
left by the scholarship reductions levied by the NCAA as part of the
fallout that shook the state's flagship institution to its
foundation.
Things were very fragile. Yet in those uncertain times, the Nittany
Lions began the methodical process of building themselves anew, well
aware of what was at stake.
The memories remain fresh for Jones, now an 11-year NFL veteran in
his third season as a starter for the Buffalo Bills. He's kept close
tabs on his alma mater since graduating in 2014, and can draw a
direct line from the rubble the program sifted through in the wake
of Sandusky to the opportunity that awaits Penn State on Saturday
when the sixth-seeded Nittany Lions (11-2) host 11th-seeded SMU
(11-2) in the opening round of the College Football Playoff.
“I think it all just starts with that firm foundation of the guys
that stayed there in 2012,” he said. “I'm just so happy to see the
program do so well.”
Penn State's first invitation to the playoff will serve as another
referendum on current coach James Franklin for a portion of a
passionate fan base tired of of the program being on the fringe of
the national championship conversation. For the former players now
scattered across the NFL and the world, it will be a celebration.
“The dark shadow of Penn State, it's good to finally be out of
that,” said Connor McGovern, an offensive lineman on the 2016 team
that won the Big Ten title and “started to turn the narrative
around.”
Sandusky is far from forgotten — he was resentenced just five years
ago, still professing his innocence — the university has
painstakingly worked to restore the program's reputation as a place
where the players are competitive on the field and graduate off it,
knowing any misstep will be magnified.
It's why the men who have pulled the classic blue-and-white jerseys
over their shoulder pads have a deep appreciation for what it took
to get to this moment and how far-fetched it may have once seemed.
“Coach O'Brien helped sustain that program,” said Pittsburgh
Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth, a three-year starter for the
Nittany Lions. “It was a tough job to be able to keep guys and keep
things at a respectable level. And coach Franklin was able to build
it and I'm just appreciative of being a part of that family.”
Penn State won't be the only team that runs onto the field at Beaver
Stadium carrying the weight of history.
SMU was a national power in the early 1980s — the Mustangs went
11-0-1 in 1982 only to finish No. 2 behind undefeated Penn State —
before a pay-for-play scheme led the NCAA to give the program the
death penalty.
While the Nittany Lions stayed competitive as it rebuilt itself, SMU
went a quarter century between bowl games and more than 30 years
between appearances in the AP Top 25. This season, SMU became the
first former Group of Five team to go undefeated in its first year
in a major conference as it stormed to the ACC title game.
This blush of success can feel fresh. It was born, however, out of
what third-year coach Rhett Lashlee described as “a couple of
decades of hard work” done by predecessors like June Jones and Sonny
Dykes.
[to top of second column] |
Penn State head coach James Franklin watches from the sideline
during the first half of the Big Ten championship NCAA college
football game against Oregon, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, in
Indianapolis. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)
“It’s like a pickle jar effect," Lashlee said.
"They all were trying to get the lid off, and they never got it off.
But by the time we got here, we were able to pop the lid off because
a lot of work to have been done by so many before.”
It's much the same now at Penn State. Had the CFP gone to 12 teams
from its inception in 2014, the Nittany Lions might have been a
fixture. No school has finished in the top 12 in the final CFP
rankings more without actually making the playoff than Penn State.
And yes, those who were parts of the near misses can't help but
think of what might have been.
“We would have made it pretty much every year, which would have been
cool to experience,” said Sean Clifford, a four-year starter at
quarterback from 2019-22 whose younger brother Liam is a junior wide
receiver on this year's team.
The older Clifford, now a member of the Green Bay Packers practice
squad, added that he has no grudges, laughingly pointing out that
“there's a lot of things that have changed in the NCAA that I would
have liked.”
One of the things that hasn't changed in State College is the way
Franklin goes about doing his job. More than a half-dozen former
Nittany Lions now in the NFL interviewed by The Associated Press
pointed to his leadership as one of the reasons why Penn State has
pulled itself back from the brink.
“He cares about us deeply,” said punter Jordan Stout, now with the
Baltimore Ravens. “He knows your mom. He knows your dad. He knows
your brother, sister, cousin, third cousin.”
Miami Dolphins rookie linebacker Chop Robinson credited Franklin for
treating his players like men “if you approached everything like a
man. ... That's what I loved about him.”
Robinson and others hear the criticism of Franklin, who is 1-14
against top 10 teams in his 11-year tenure.
“If they don't make it far, then I think everyone's just going to be
like, ‘fire Franklin, fire Franklin,’” Stout said. “Obviously that's
not the right call in my opinion.”
There will be more than a fair amount of pressure on the 52-year-old
Franklin on Saturday. Then again, he's used to the weight. The
problems he faces now are the kind he could only dream about on Jan.
11, 2014, when he pledged at his introductory press conference to
"build this program (to) where everybody wants it to be.”
Now that it's almost there, Jones wonders if maybe it's not time to
focus on the increasingly narrow gap between the Nittany Lions and
the top, but the canyon it has no nimbly navigated to get here.
Yes, he is well-versed in the seemingly annual tough losses to the
Ohio States of the world. Yet he also remembers the performance of
those sanction-laden teams littered with walk-ons when the wounds
wrought by Sandusky's downfall were still so fresh.
Those teams hung in there and walked so the current Nittany Lions
could run. If and when Penn State finds itself playing deep into
January, Jones knows the first steps weren't taken this fall, but
long before.
“That's a testament to what Penn State really means,” Jones said.
“Hard-working people (who) got to work every day, put (their) head
down, don't look for glory and go out there and just collect the
wins.”
___
AP Sports Writers John Wawrow, Stephen Hawkins, Schuyler Dixon,
Alanis Thames, Noah Trister and Steve Megargee contributed to this
report. |
