ALTOONA, Pa. -- When Penn State and Michigan take the field Saturday afternoon, the game will feature two of the biggest disappointments in college football in 2020. And for the first time all season, the Nittany Lions will have won something: Recognition as the biggest disappointment.
The Nittany Lions are off to the worst start in the 134-year history of the football program, while the Wolverines are off to a dismal start themselves, sitting at 2-3 after going to triple-overtime against Rutgers before ultimately winning. This from two teams projected to be favorites to win the Big Ten and compete for a berth in the College Football Playoff.
Each program's head coach gets paid a lot of money to do their jobs and, not surprisingly, have had their fan bases turn on them because of the lack of success. At Michigan, the fans have started to turn on Jim Harbaugh because he's been unable to get the Wolverines to match the success of Ohio State. Harbaugh, who has not won a Big Ten championship, has a salary a little north of $7 million.
That brings us to Penn State head coach James Franklin, who makes $5.5 million in 2020, or roughly $1 million for each loss so far this season. Franklin has a few things Harbaugh doesn't, such as a win against the Buckeyes and a Big Ten championship. As historically terrible as the Nittany Lions have been this season, Franklin won't be leaving unless he does so on his own accord. To walk away from $35 million in guaranteed money would be one of the more idiotic things to do, although anything is possible in 2020.
Franklin earned that extension in large part because Penn State has had an incredible run of success under his leadership. The Nittany Lions have won 41 games over the last four seasons and entered the 2020 season off an 11-win season and a Cotton Bowl victory.
Now, a program that labels itself as "unrivaled" is starting to unravel in embarrassingly painful ways. All five losses have had a different feel, starting with the loss at Indiana, during which Penn State was just inches shy of winning. It went on to Ohio State, which was expected to be the loss that it was, although but was competitiveness throughout.
Since then, whatever competitive spirit existed has dissipated and it's unclear whether it'll come back. The Nittany Lions lost to Maryland, which was a 24-point underdog in Beaver Stadium. It didn't get much better at Nebraska a week later, as they got thumped again after giving up 27 points in the first half.
The embarrassment reached a fever pitch Saturday afternoon when they lost by 20 to Iowa, a team Penn State had beaten six games in a row.
"We've had to learn how to handle success," Franklin said following the game Saturday. "And now we're having to handle adversity."
Over the course of the season, the Nittany Lions have lost their grasp of the fundamentals of football. Penn State isn't capable of doing what's necessary to win football games; terrible blocking, tackling and quarterback play prevent the Nittany Lions from doing anything well.
If it stopped there, it would be fixable to an extent, but the issues run far deeper than poor fundamentals. It's coaching. Of all years, Penn State was faced with quite a bit of staff turnover, with three assistants from last season taking better jobs and another fired. Those who replaced them had to introduce themselves via Zoom as a result of spring practices being canceled, and weren't able to work one-on-one with players until practice started in the fall.
Terrible timing for sure, but Franklin, who has never been a great game manager, has been awful at in-game decision-making. Too many times he has elected to to go for it rather than put points on the board or vice versa, only to have it backfire.
Consider what happened against Iowa. Franklin went for it on fourth down in the first half 'to inject some momentum in the offense, then punted with the game on the line when faced with a fourth down in the fourth quarter, trailing by 13 points. The decision spoke volumes for Penn State players; they had been quit on.
Quit on by Franklin, who has one-upped his nonchalant demeanor on the sidelines with a more irritable, stern, arms-folded look this season. From top to bottom, the Nittany Lions lack any sort of confidence and are routinely hesitant and look defeated on the sidelines.
The talent is there, both on the coaching staff and with the players, as it's not as if Franklin has forgotten how to coach. He's in this position for a reason, it's just going horribly this year. Yet with a coach who has seemingly quit on his players during games, how can he not expect the same from those within the program?
Franklin is a family man and he's been without his family for months. It's unfortunate and heartbreaking he's been unable to be around his family, and it's been affecting him on the field. His demeanor has been much like that of his players: Defeated, exhausted and burned out.
The circumstances for Franklin aren't going to change anytime soon, and perhaps a hint of success could change things, but with the way the season has gone, any such success is far from certain.
Recovering from the hole Franklin and Co. have dug for themselves isn't going to be easy, but looking back, this is far from the first time a Penn State team has been at a crossroads.
In 2004, the Nittany Lions were horrific on offense. In 2012, it seemed as if the program would go away entirely. Now, off to its worst start ever, Penn State faces the daunting task of not only saving this season, but not allowing 2020 to impact the future of the program.
The 2004 and 2008 teams went on to future success; the 2005 team went 11-1 and beat Florida State and the 2012 team laid the foundation for what ultimately became Franklin's program and a Big Ten championship.
What those teams had in common was leadership, and in this edition of Penn State, there hasn't been much, if any, leadership. That starts at the top, with Franklin.
Do the Nittany Lions have what it takes to overcome the adversity this season, or will they continue to wilt without any trace of leadership? It's up to Franklin to figure that out and right the ship to salvage not only the season, but possibly preserve the program before it completely unravels and gets beyond repair.