By this point of the season, Penn State was expected to be 6-0—or at least 5-1—and heading to Iowa this week before taking on reigning national champion Ohio State for a shot at becoming the favorite in the Big Ten, if not the nation.
Instead, the Nittany Lions are quickly trying to overcome the guilt and emotional overload of the past week, from losing their third straight game to seeing head coach James Franklin get the boot.
So what happened to the No. 2 preseason team and then-College Football Playoff favorite? A team that thought they'd be hoisting a trophy, not watching their coach say his goodbyes to a program he's manned for over a decade. While athletic director Pat Kraft ensured that Franklin and the team had the coaches and players to contend, the team proved unable to handle the pressure and expectations.
Penn State blew out their first three opponents of the season, but they began showing signs of hesitancy and a lack of confidence that would come back to bite them.
"The culture had gotten really tight," one athletic department source said to ESPN. "People around here were like, 'We're going to get f—ing crushed by Oregon.'"
When the team faced Oregon, they fell into a 17-3 hole. They impressively overcame the Ducks' lead, and forced overtime, when they eventually lost.
"You could see Lanning stacking decisions and setting up different things they wanted to do throughout the game. The strategy was clear," An NFL personnel executive that's scouted Penn State told ESPN. "... For all of James' strengths, recruiting and leadership, his major weakness—in-game decision-making—showed up in every close game."
Still, a loss to Oregon in double overtime was far from the end of the world. It was frustrating that Franklin and Penn State fell just short in another big game, but Oregon is a great team.
Among the issues was that the team didn't use that loss as motivation. Rather than the players rallying together and rebounding, a source described the team to ESPN as "emotionless" after falling to Oregon. "The team needed inspiration and confidence," the source said. "But it was all hesitation."
This hesitancy didn't just show up in the team's mentality, or lack thereof, but was evident in their performance on field.
"Wide receivers weren't finishing routes, guys weren't finishing blocks, the defensive line not being where they're supposed to be—things that were always done at Penn State weren't happening," a program source said to ESPN.
This included quarterback Drew Allar, who returned to Penn State over heading to the NFL draft. Before suffering a season-ending injury this past week, NFL sources detailed that Penn State didn't seem like they fully trusted Allar and that the quarterback wasn't playing with the confidence a player as talented as him could have been.
"You could just tell he had a self-monologue of, 'Don't screw it up, don't throw a pick,' just not playing very confidently," a coach who faced Penn State said to ESPN. "They just feel like a team that doesn't know who they are."
Between the game-management of Franklin, lack of detail work and hesitancy from the players, Penn State's loss to Oregon snowballed into a three-game losing streak with unacceptable losses to UCLA and Northwestern. Franklin was fired, and the Nittany Lions will now have to try to right the ship with interim head coach Terry Smith and backup quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as New Report Reveals Key Factors That Led to Penn State's Downfall, James Franklin Firing.
