Army Recap: What are we looking at?

Penn State beat Army 20-14 on Saturday but it was ugly in more ways than one. Head coach James Franklin was without both Saquon Barkley and Akeel Lynch and with the weather again being nothing but rain it would have helped to have those two carrying the ball. Instead, Franklin had to turn to freshmen Mark Allen and Nick Scott who combined for 82 of the teams 108 yards and a touchdown. If Army didn’t have 3 fumbles, which Penn State would capitalize on, this game could have gone in a different direction. The rain didn't help the passing game, quarterback Christian Hackenberg was only able to throw for 156 yards.The Black Knights racked up 261 yards on a Penn State defense that came in allowing less than 100 yards a game on the ground. It was an ugly game yes, but right now James Franklin cares about going 1-0 every week.

I’ll get into the rest of the game but I kind of want to elaborate on something. In case you didn’t see this part of Franklin’s press conference, go ahead and check it out.

To sum it all up, James Franklin isn’t worried about what we think. He doesn’t check the message boards. He knows his offense is embarrassing. He knows the fans aren’t happy, but he knows that this isn’t going to be an overnight success story. He knows he’s not coaching at Vanderbilt anymore where winning 8 or 9 games excites a fan base that doesn’t really understand what winning is. But he gets it. He gets the fact that at Penn State winning is everything much like it is at any other top tier football program. He also gets that winning off the field is just as important as winning on the field. I’m just as frustrated as everyone else; I want to win 10, 11, and 12 games every year. I want to compete for Big Ten and National Championships but like Franklin, I know that’s going to take time.

Defending the triple option isn’t easy. Especially when you’re only preparing for once a year. You have to play smart defense, fill gaps, and can’t miss tackles. Penn State did that for the most part minus a couple of long runs. Jason Cabina led the way with a monster performance, 14 tackles, 2 sacks, and 2 tackles for loss. The unit was without safety Marcus Allen who hopefully will return as Indiana comes to Happy Valley to start the heart of Big Ten play.

I was thinking about this during the game and it might be what other people are thinking, is James Franklin holding back on what the offense is going to be like? We’ve seen him open it and go down field more, but is that going to be the offense now? If Saquon Barkley and Akeel Lynch are out for a stretch of games it might have to be.