The Ohio State Buckeyes got the job done with Jim Knowles and Ryan Day. After their 30-24 double-overtime loss to the Oregon Ducks at the White Out game, many are concerned that the Penn State Nittany Lions can't do the same with James Franklin running the show. There's no "Big Game James" in State College, Pennsylvania. That may never change.
USA Today's Matt Hayes has hope it can, though. Franklin has a defensive coordinator who's been there and done that, having won the 2024/2025 College Football Playoff National Championship in Columbus. Knowles raised the Buckeye standard to No. 1 in the nation last year in total defense.
Hayes foresees that resonating with the Nittany Lions locker room ahead of a major trap game against the winless UCLA Bruins this weekend in Westwood and a stretch that also includes the Northwestern Wildcats and Iowa Hawkeyes before traveling to OSU to battle at the "Shoe" in November.
"Hours after the soul-stealing loss to Oregon, Franklin started talking to Knowles about how Ohio State found a way back from the abyss. Then Franklin had Knowles address the players and staff," Hayes wrote.
"You can listen to words, but can you hear it? In this highly visual society, it’s advantageous to have someone who can paint the picture of success for all to clearly see.
"It’s easy to yammer on about not letting one loss turn into two, or how great teams don’t get beat twice by the same game. Or how the CFP has given teams a longer runway to find a way to the big prize.
"All of that is philosophical mind games. Teams and players today need to see it, feel it and more important, follow a step-by-step path."
It may not happen right away in Happy Valley. Does the Nittany Lions fanbase have it in them to wait another year or two? Knowles' defense wasn't perfected until his third year with the Buckeyes. Once it hit, though, it became unstoppable.
Day can tell Franklin that firsthand.