ALTOONA, Pa. -- Penn State has one of the great programs in college football history. No one would deny that, and 98 percent of the programs in this country would love to have the level of historic tradition the Nittany Lions have enjoyed.
But as good as Penn State has been, when you look at things by the numbers, Ohio State has just been on another level.
The elite level.
When James Franklin talked three years ago about turning Penn State back into an elite program -- as it was from the late 1960s through the 1980s -- he was spot on in what he said about Ohio State being elite.
The Buckeyes have lived in that area code for, well, forever.
I'll get to the numbers comparison in a second, and the large disparities are something to behold.
But one of the main things to consider right now, as Franklin decides about his future, is that the coach knows Ohio State has always and will always be a major obstacle standing in the way of Penn State being able to achieve its goals and actually taking that next step to becoming elite.
It's the degree of difficulty in taking the next step that, ultimately, very well could be a deciding factor in Franklin leaving Penn State and trying to chase a national title at a place where one of the elite programs of all time isn't staring you down in your division every year.
There's a fantastic website called Winsipedia that tracks all sorts of terrific college football stats and history. You can compare any two teams, and following is a screen shot of the historical comparison between Penn State and Ohio State:
When you consider how good Penn State has been for so long, it's pretty shocking to see some of the large disparities in the numbers above. Here are some of the ones that jump out in how how heavily they favor Ohio State:
National championships: 8 to 2 (granted, Penn State fans will say the Lions should have had several more but were overlooked)
Consensus All-Americans: 90 to 43 (it is staggering to think this number is more than double Penn State's total)
Heisman winners: 7 to 1
First-round NFL draft picks: 85 to 39 (again more than double)
NFL draft picks: 473 to 367
Weeks in AP poll: 943 to 663
Weeks at No. 1: 105 to 21
None of this is meant to be any kind of knock on Penn State. Because again, the Lions have been a great program forever.
But if you look at those numbers above, it's amazing to think of how much more successful Ohio State has been throughout history.
The head-to-head battle has the Buckeyes with 21 wins to 14 for Penn State. Ohio State has owned the series lately, winning eight of the past nine games, with the 2016 blocked field goal and score being Penn State's lone win during that span.
The Lions have played the Buckeyes tough, though, under Franklin, including a pair of one-point losses (27-26 in 2018 and 39-38 in 2017).
Penn State's slogan is Unrivaled. But it's clear when you look at the program comparison which Big Ten program truly is unrivaled right now.
