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TABLE TALK: The James Franklin Firing And The Future Of Penn State Football · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:29
  Speaker 1: All right, folks, welcome to Table Talk here at the
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: sports podcast show in the world, twelve years strong. And yes, folks,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: we have to get into this Penn State football program.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: As many know, I'm a Penn State ALAM. I've got
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: a Penn State ALAM on with me this week to
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: talk about this team, what has happened with it, the
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: surprise of where this season has gone. We've got our
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: good friend Mike Raymond from Fox Sports Radio of the
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Lehigh Valley. My friend, thank you for coming on. I
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: know you've been talking about this over at Fox Sports
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: radioly for basically the past week. I hope it's not
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: going to be old hat for you, but man, I
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: appreciate you taking the time to.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Join us here. No, Jeff, anytime I get to talk
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: with you, I'm just pumped to do it because I
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: know the passions there on both of our ends. But yeah,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: I got blamed. I just got been telling you. I
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: was away for about fifteen days, yes, from Europe and
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: right around the time, so I missed the Oregon game.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: I missed the UCLA game and the Northwestern games. So
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: I was being beginning to think it was my fault.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: But then, of course, including against Iowa this weekend.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: So true.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: True, you're not back in the state, so.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: You're only seventy five percent culpable here like at this
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: point here. But man, let's get I would imagine you did. Look.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Never in a million years did I think that we
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: would see the Penn State football program where it is
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: right now at this very moment, Mike. They were supposed
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: to be a contender for the national title. For the
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: love of God, they've lost four games in a row. Oh,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: some will say it started, of course, you know when
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Oregon basically took the soul out of them. I rewatched
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: that game and you could actually see the soul of
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: the Penn State football program just coming away and coming
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: apart from the team. They went ahead and of course fired
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: their head coach, James Franklin, which means they're just ploundering
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: at the moment.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: And I.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Was thinking to myself after the third loss, Franklin may
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: actually need to be fired, but I thought it was
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: possibly gonna be if it were to happen after this season,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: and we're gonna get into the James Franklin firing. Of course,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: in just a bit, but I first wanted to talk
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: about just the overall level of shock throughout the fan
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: base at this point. My quote shock meter is basically
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: up at ten at this point. Like I said, I
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: never in a million years did I think something like
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: this would happen to Penn State football program. How shocked
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: are you about how things have gone this season for
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: this Penn State football program?
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Mike?
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: And I guess too. You know, there's a lot of
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: discourse around this as we might have seen this coming?
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Should we have seen this coming? What are your thoughts
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: here to start us off.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: Buddy, Yeah, I mean I'm not entirely shocked that they
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: lost to Oregon, which what what what really derailed the
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: program was the following week at UCLA. Like you can
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: overcome a loss to Oregon, you know, with the expectations
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: being what they were going into that game, you really
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: thought that was going to be one of the ones
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: you were going to get on the right side of. Yeah,
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: and you know, it took until the fourth quarter for
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: the offense to wake up, and then you know, before
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: you know it, you're in overtime and you have Belie.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: Even leating overtime, you felt pretty good about it and
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: then just you can't throw that ball if your Drew Allery.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: I mean that throw and the throw against Notre Dame
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: in the College football said, hey, semifinal last year, those
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: are two balls you would love to have back. And
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: then the spiral that ensued, you know, to me, fundamentally,
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: at its core, it started at the beginning of the
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: season when you think about the expectations placed on this
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: program and for the very first time, you know, we
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: we were looking at this season as an all in season.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: So you went out into the transfer portal, you got
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: three wide receivers out there, you went and hired Jim
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: Knowles for a king's ransom, a bounty. Packcraft said, if
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: if there was a resource you need, he's going to
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: open up the coffers and find you a path to
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: the national title game. And it was a departure for
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: me watching James Franklin approach this season because he was
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: embracing the expectations. He said, the expectations are earned because
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: of all of the returning talent, and you know they
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: weren't going to shy away. That's a much different mentality
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: than he's ever preached in his previous time at Penn State.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: It's always been that one to oh week to week mentality.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: So I took that as Okay, well, maybe this is
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: the logical next step in saying we are going to
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: challenge ourselves and we are going to put the expectations
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: out on ourselves. But then you saw the slow start
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: in the non conference and.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: I was at the Floor International game and I was like,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: what is happening here? In the first half of that
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: game was completely not like they were actually in the
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: moment on the field, that's.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: What they're playing to scare. They're playing scared. They were
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: playing not to win, they were playing not to lose.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: And you know, I think that some of the criticism
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: was probably warranted. The running game didn't look like it
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: was going to be as dominant as it once was
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: with all the returning of talent on the offensive line, yeah,
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: and being able to keep k Tron Allen and Nick Singleton.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: They didn't go to the NFL, they didn't go to
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: another program. They wanted to go out as one and
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: two in the all time rushing leader list, and it
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: just it just spluttered to a start. And you know,
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: I figured maybe you would see a little bit more
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: cohesiveness in the Oregon game, and the early part of
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: that game, you really didn't see it, certainly from the
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: offensive side. To me though, with the meltdown here on
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: the defensive side of the ball, not being able to
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: stop anybody. And you can say all you want that
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: the Jim Knowles defense takes a little bit of time
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: time to implement, and you've got to get these guys
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: used to it. Not only goes so far. Man, you
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: got to a certain you have to start at somebody
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: playing complimentary football. If your offense at Iowa this past
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: week was going out and had that long drive in
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: the fourth quarter, and then Iowa gets the ball back
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: and in two plays that are at the goal line
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: and they're and they take the lead, and it's like,
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: that is a demoralizing, non complimentary, non complimentary, you know
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: way to operate this. So it's it's frustrating to watch.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: And and the other thing I wanted to mention as
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: it pertains to the season is the emotion we know.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: James Franklin is an emotional guy. He wears his heart
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: on his sleeve. He always is known for the mantra
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: It starts I love you, it ends with I love you,
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: and I think There's a certain emotion that you didn't
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: see from Franklin once the UCLA game was over. You look,
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: he looked like the heart was his heart was ripped out.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: And I think as a result, it infiltrated that locker room.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: Not that they didn't want to play for James Franklin,
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: because I do believe majority of these players really love
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: him and were gutted for the fact that he was
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: shown the door. But I think that is an emotional
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: locker room, and I think they were kind of playing
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: off of his emotions, and once that UCLA game happened.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: He saw it. At the end of that game, he
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: was deflated. He knew what the expectation. It's almost like
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: you know what was coming. He knew what was coming.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: I just don't know if he knew it was coming
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: as fast as it did.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good segue to get into him being
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: let go. Here his firing man. Twelve years as the
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: head coach of this Penn State football program, and he
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: did some great things for this program. Mike, you and
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: I have talked for years now about James Franklin. I've
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: always been a James Franklin fan, you know, But he
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: was also disappointing in the way where you know, he
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: couldn't really beat to top tiered and top ranked teams
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: in the country. Yes, it was disappointing, but I think
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: at the end of the day, he really did do
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: more good for this program and for the kids and
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: the school overall. And you know, like I initially said it,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: you know, I thought they would wait until the end
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: of the season to fire him, if that was what
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: was going to happen, But it just, man, it happened
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: so quickly, like you said, And I wonder why. I
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: think it's sometimes important to ask that question. Why part
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: of me feels And honestly, I've been talking to some
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: friends of mine about it, some other Penn State alum
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: about it. Like I do wonder because there's always so
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: much money out there. We know that in the world
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: of sports, especially in college football. Now with what's going
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: on with Nil, part of me feels like there was
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: some alum funder with millions of dollars who said, look,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you the money to buy out his contract.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: Now we're going to start over. This is what I
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: want to do for the Penn State football program at
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: this point. Look, I don't know if it's something that's
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: that simple, but I want to get your thoughts about
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: his firing, why it happened mid season, and you know
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: basically what we've been seeing and just trying to digest here.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, if you want to walk and talk
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: about the time. I mean the timing itself is interesting
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: because you might think you might want to wait until
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: the buye you know, where you have that extra week
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: to prepare some pit right after the Iowa game. But
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: also you could also say, well, well, now that Drew
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: Aller was done for the season due to injury, that
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: we need to see some samples from Eton Grunckermeier and
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: see what he's able to put out there on tape
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: so you can evaluate it during the bye week. But
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: when it comes to the head coaching spot, you know,
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: it allows Pat Craft to do an extensive search if
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: you do it at this point mid season. I mean,
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: once once you lost to Northwestern, I mean, the viability
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: of a good bowl game I mean kind of went
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: out the window. I mean, you'll be lucky to be
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: playing after the Christmas holiday right at this point, you know,
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: so it's you know, you know, I don't want to
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: like take anything away from the guys who are going
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: to be there and you know, re representing Penn State
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: moving forward this season. But for all intents and purposes,
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: you'll figure about half this roster's gone anyway, because you know,
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: Aler was a senior of those transfer porter wide receivers
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: were coming in. It was an older class already, so
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: you were going to have to start over at some point,
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: whether it be a transfer portal quarterback, whether it be
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: you know, recruits, you know, filling through it. So like,
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: not only have the recruits you're worried about, you have
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: to worry about the head coaches. I'm sorry, not only
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: the head coach, but the coordinators. Is Gymnal's going to
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: be back? Is Andy kotal Nicki going to be back?
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: I mean the buyouts for those guys, aren't, you know,
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: a drop in the pan as well. So like there's
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: a lot of different things you have to factor in here,
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: but this allows you to take your time with it.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: I don't expect to hear anything about you know, final
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: candidates or anything until the month of November at least
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: halfway through maybe the end of the regular season. And
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: then of course, you know, if it's a a coach
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: that's currently in college football currently that's playing into the
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: month of January. Yeah, they still have their own priorities
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: as well. So it's it's a tough in terms of
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: timing for a bunch of things. But when you're talking
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: about your theory about the the the booster that perhaps
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: had written the check, and we learned a lot about
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: the cock with Franklin, like if he does get a
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: job all by the state is all on the hook
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: for is the difference between his current job and the salary.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: And then after this weekend with Florida opening up, you know,
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: I think the rumors from James Franklin going to Florida
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: before Billy Napier, you know, that's been out there. So
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: I wouldn't be surprised if he just walks right into
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: that job. But the timing, the timing wasn't ideal. But
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: people were calling for blood fans, national pundits, local pundits.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: I hate to say that it had to happen because,
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: you know, going back to what you were saying about
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: James Franklin, you were defending him. I was defending him
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: for many years on a personal level. I mean, he
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: was nothing but gracious when He hosted our show out
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: right outside his office at the port on the porch
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: there at the last building. So I mean, the guy
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: is all in for Pennsylvania. He's all in for the kids.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: I think he's the guy. He's a really good program builder.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: He can do it. He'll fall backward into a really
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: good job this offseason or if he wants to wait
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: another year. But ultimately it's for the good of the program.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Patcraft and his leadership wants to say we want national championship,
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: you know, cheap. He had twelve years to do it. Yeah,
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: you know, And I will throw out the first few
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: years were obviously very difficult, but you know, from twenty
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: seventeen on, I think he was working with a full deck.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: And you can talk about the alignment he was always
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: talking about with the university president, the athletic director. He
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: had the resources going into this season. A lot hidde
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: on this season.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: Man, it's just amazing. I'm still in shock. Go back
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: to what we initially started this. I'm still in shock.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: But we're going to continue to get into you know,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: more penn State football talk here, folks. We are going
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: to take a couple of breaks here during our table
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Talk interview show. We're going to take a break right now,
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: but when we get back, we're going to talk more about,
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: you know, what the new coach may actually look like
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: and where where his legacy, if James Franklin's legacy is
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: going to go. So when we get back from break,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: we're going to be diving into that. Stick with us.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: All right, folks, we are back again with our good
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: friend Mike Raymond from Fox Sports Radio of the Lehigh
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: Valley And as we're continuing our discussion here about the
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: Penn State football program just changing in a new era
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: is going to be upon us in the future. I
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: do think, Mike, that James Franklin is going to be
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: known for having left more of a positive mark on
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: this football program in the years to come. I do
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: based on his recruiting, based on all the great leadership
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: qualities that you were talking about before we went to break,
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: and again, yes, the disappointments of not getting to that
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: next echelon of the Ohio States, of what Michigan did
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: when Harbaugh was there, and some of these other programs
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: as well Alabama over the years. I do think though
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: that years down the road, he will be seen as
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: somebody who took over for O'Brien, you know, and after
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: the horrendous, an awful Sandusky storyline, the awfulness of that,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: and just helped to get this program really back on
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: to its feet. So I don't know, I don't what
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: do you think James Franklin's legacy is going to be
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: as we continue to move forward away from his tenure?
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: What are your thoughts here?
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: And he came in with with the exact same reputation
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: as he left with. He was an unbelievable recruiter, He
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: was an unbelievable people person. He was a great representative
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: of the of the university when he first got there.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: I never forget he was. He took every opportunity to
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: talk to any person who wanted to talk to him
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: that you know, he took feedback. He talked about the
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: direction that he wanted to see this program go. So
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: like the guy grew the football program to be a consistent,
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: you know, double digit win team, And I know that,
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: you know, people I don't. I don't think people know
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: the concept of like really what that takes. Yeah, from
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: a coaching perspective, and it's you know, we took it
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: for granted and Yeah, those are disappointing losses to Ohio State,
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: and there are disappointing losses to some other teams in
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: the in the bowl games and college football playoffs. But
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: at the end of the day, he did his job.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: He led with integrity. You know, you very rarely heard
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: about his kids getting in trouble. You very rarely heard
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: anything away from it, like they you know, he got
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: that moniker of like a car used car salesman. I
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: never got that. I think it is he is as
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: genuine as he is true to himself. I think everything
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: that he put out there, while it may come off
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: as disingenuous, he was he That's who he was as
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: a person. I don't think people realize that, like if
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: you ever talked with him, like he's a football coach first,
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: but obviously he's trying to grow these people into better
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: citizens and grown men and just be a leader of men.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: So like, I think his legacy will be, yeah, part
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: of it. His legacy is going to be that he
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: didn't win some of those big games and it was disappointing,
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: but as a CEO of the Penn State football program,
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: he knocked it out of the park. I think he
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: exceeded expectations as a resulted in that, and you know,
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: he was a CEO. I think a lot of people
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: don't realize like he did delegate a lot of the
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: ex'es and o's to his coordinators offensive and defensive, which
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: you know, ultimately the CEO. You know, in any other
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: Fortune five hundred company that the stock price dips or
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: if there is things to answer for it, you have
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: to answer for it. And that's what he did. And
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: you know, his personal record is what it is, but
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: it's not because he led in a way that was
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: deserving of criticism. I don't think that's the ex's of
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: those are what they are. In game decisions are what
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: they are. But he was an excellent CEO and an
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: excellent representative of Penn State.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that's what he's really going to
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: be remembered as, Like ten years from now, we're going
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: to say, you know what, even even wherever the program
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: is at at that point, whether it's successful, whether it's
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: still trying to find its feet, I think people are
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: going to look back on James Franklin's twelve years and say,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: you know what, he really was the kind of football
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: coach that this program needed at that particular time. And
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: I think there's something to be said for that. I
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: really do, you know.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: And I would have taken I would have taken a
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: James Franklin over a two thousand and three and two
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: thousand and four Joe Paterno any day. That was my
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: juniors jenior at college when we won three and four games,
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: and yeah, the infamous six to four Iowa loss at home,
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: and you know, like, yeah, those are some dark times
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: for the program. And but of course you saw, you know,
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: the end of the paternal era was very unceremonious as well.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: But you know, he has his own legacy. Franklin has
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: his own legacy and that that includes being second all
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: time and wins at Penn State. So I don't I
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: wouldn't be cowering away. If I'm James Franklin. You can
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: hold your head up high and say that you put
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: it put your He didn't go into these big games
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: wanting to lose, right, like people don't want to stand
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: like like it's not his intention. He wanted to win
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: just as bad as everybody else. Right, didn't happen for
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: him if at a certain point you got to hold
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: him accountable for it, and that's what happened with Pat Kraft.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Well, let's get into what this new he excuse me,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: head coach may actually be a little under the weather, folks.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: Sorry there, Oh my gosh. Yeah, the new head coach
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: for this Penn State football program. You know what this
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: individual should look like? I genuinely wonder what they're going
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: to be looking for. Look, people are saying, oh, Nick Saban,
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: Nick Saban's not coming to this program. I'm sorry, Nick
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: Saban is not coming out of retirement. He's not exactly,
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: that's not happening. Matt Rules. Another name, uh, Jeff Brohm
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: from Louisville has been nominated as well, you know, or
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: mentioned not nominated. I'm losing my mind right now. I'm
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: not finding my words here. But I'm just wondering what
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: kind of head coach this football program is going to
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: need in the future want in the future, you know,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: because I would imagine some of the boosters are going
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: to have at least some level of say in who
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: this may be possibly given contribution levels to the athletic program.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: I don't know, Like, what do you think we're going
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: to be seeing here?
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: Mike, Yeah, I mean here's here's what I'll say in
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: a nod to James Franklin. Everything that James Franklin was
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: and a better ex's and o's guy. Yeah, that's what
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: that's what I think this program needs. Everything that James
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: Franklin was, and a better in game coach, an x's
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: and O guy Like, that's that's what this program needs.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: You need the same passion, you need, the same integrity,
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: you need, the same level of recruiting you need, you
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: need the leadership on campus, and then also you need
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: to know how to do it in real time, making
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: adjustments in the game, scheming your way to victories. That's
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: that's what this program needs. I feel like I don't.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: Know who that person is because that's it's like they
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: be here.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: Right So that's the only thing that that And I'm
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: giving Paccraft, the athletic director, a ton of credit because
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: he stood up there the monday after they let James
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: Franklin go, and he answered questions and he looked like
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: a leader. He looked like a guy who was making
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: an informed decision backed by data that he was convinced
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: that this was the right move for the program. And
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: then he wants to hold this program in Penn State
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: football to a high expectation with the national championship as
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: its goal. Everything that he said there we all want
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: as Penn State a lums and fans and just people
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: who appreciate college football. Penn State is a blue blood
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: of college football, and it's great. It would be a
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: great story to tell if after forty plus years, you
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: can figure out a way to get a national title.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: It looked like it could have been this year. It
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: didn't work out, So you go back to the drawing
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: board and find that guy. Some of the names you
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: mentioned Yet, Nick Saban, I don't buy it for a
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: second that he would come out of retirement and his
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: Ferrari dealerships and all they take a step away from
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: all of that. I think he's living the good life
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: on college game day. Matt Rule with the obvious connection
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: with Pat Craft from their time at Temple, I understand
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: their close personal friends. I also think that might be
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: a reason that might rule him out because I think
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: he might be too close to it. I mean, we
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: talked about Pat Craft and James Franklin being personal friends,
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: and Pat said how hard that was going to do
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: to BeO to go up to the lash Building and
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: say they were going to make a change at the
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: leadership position with the football program. They were close friends.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: It's all business at the end of the day. But
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure if Pat Craft wants to put himself
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: in a similar situation with a guy like Matt Rule,
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: who he has a personal relationship with, that's up for
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: him to decide personally. You know, you don't get rid
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: of James Franklin and put put in Matt Rule, who
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: has a very similar record versus top twenty five teams.
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: And I understand a lot of that time was at Temple,
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: and you know his time at Baylor. It's not necessarily
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: reflective of the Nebraska and you just want to throw
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: the NFL Matt Rule. You want to throw that out
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: with the Carolina Panthers. But you know, if you're asking
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: me who i'd like to see, there's one name that
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: not a lot of people are talking about, and it
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: may be minorly controversial, but Pat Fitzgerald, familiar and familiar
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: with the conference, was a big ten coach. Now, I
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: understand there was some controversy on the way out at Northwestern,
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: but if you haven't followed it, he got a nice
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: settlement from Northwestern. They were not able to prove any
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: kind of wrongdoing of him endorsing hazing or anything on
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: the Northwestern campus. And he was an All American player
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: in the Big Ten and knows the conference. And I
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: think he's very similar to the style of coach, like,
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: very passionate and would go all in, and I think
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: a lot of players would love him. And then you
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: think about what he would be able to do with
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: the resources that pet State's willing to give him. I
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: think it could be a really good marriage there. I've
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: heard Brian Hartline, the offensive coordinator for Ohio State. I'd
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: be intrigued by that. Mike Elco at Texas A and
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: M I'd be intrigued by that. Kurt Signetty went out
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: the window with the extension. I expect Lane Kiffin's name
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: to be out the window soon with an extension at
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: Old Miss. But I'd very much be interested in Lane Kiffin.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: Matt Ruhland, I'm not huge on John Gruten. I'm not
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: huge on not up for the shtick. He might be
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: a really good XS and o's coach offensively, but I'm
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: not in for John Gruten. I don't know if he
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: would be my first choice at the college level. So
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: those are some of the names that I've heard, but
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: you know, if it was me, Mike Elko would be interesting, definitely,
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: Brian Hartline, but Pat Fitzgerald would be the guy that
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: I would like to see.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: It's an interesting name. Yeah, it's an interesting name. Fitzgerald
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: the winningest and longest tenured coach in Northwestern history. I
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: mean yes, I think his record is one hundred and ten,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: hundred and ten wins one hundred and ten losses in
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: a pretty tough job. And it was they were kind
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: of trending a little poorly towards the end of his
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: tenure there. I think they went like you know, there
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: was four and twenty in his last two seasons as
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: the NIL era began.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: But he's definitely gonna have the resources. Yes, he didna
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: have the resources like Penn State. And you haven't heard
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: of his name, and and that could also help solve
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: some of your financial woes because you know, maybe he
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: doesn't take as much because he had a pretty nice
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: settlement for Northwestern, so it's maybe not be may not
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: be about the money for him, and so that kind
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: of offsets with because you think about it one thing
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: people will talk about, you know, they talk about the
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: buyout for James Franklin fifty plus million dollars or whatever
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: it is, which we talked about, gets offset if he
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: gets another job whatever. But then if you have to
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: buy out Andy Kolalnikki, if you have to buy out
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: Jim Knowles, do you have to buy out or like
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: go out into the portal and get other guys like.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: So there's a whole about a bunch of other checks
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: that have to be written when you get to the
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: end of this season. So if you can get like
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: a way to find a creative way to save a
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: few bucks, that might might solve it.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: All right, folks, we're going to take take another quick
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: break and then when we get back, we're really going
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: to dive into as well, just what's happening with the players,
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: our thoughts on the players, questions about recruiting, and you know,
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: one word to describe where this Penn State football program
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: is at. We're going to be back in just a bit.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: Stay tuned. All right, We're back with our good friend
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: Mike Raymond from Fox Sports Radio the Lehigh Valley. Mike,
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: tell everybody where they can find you on the socials.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: We didn't do that yet where they can connect with
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: you if they won.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I'm out on Facebook, Mike Raymond or
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: Mike Raymon LVY on Instagram and Twitter. If you're interested
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: in following on I go, I come out of my
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: shell every once in a while, and little bit of
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: the pot on there. But you know, if you want
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: to hear us, give us a listen on ELVI foxsports
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: dot com. You can stream all of our local content there.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: Our podcasts are available on Apple and Spotify, and you
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: can definitely hear us on the Happy Hour and on
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: Saturday Mornings with Me. So yep, that's four to seven
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: weekdays live and all the podcasts are therefore your convenience
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: on lvivoxsports dot com.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: Always good stuff, folks, Always good stuff from Mike. So
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: as we're moving along with this conversation here, a lot
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: is going to be up in the air with a
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: lot of these players, just these players, athletic lives in
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: a sense being upended. I cannot imagine how a lot
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: of these players feel. I mean, reports just came out
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: this past week about dree al Or some of the
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: mental health issues that he has gone through and what
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: this means not only to him, but teammates just other coaches.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: I wonder just where the players go from here on out.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: I wonder where the recruiting goes. There's certainly questions about
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: how the recruiting is going to go, you know, the
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: future of current commits. I know it's a general question here, Mike,
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: but what what should we expect from the Penn State
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: football team and the program here for the rest of
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: the season. What are your thoughts?
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think a lot of it's going to be
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: decided here in the next couple of weeks. Because I
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: don't want to say that players are going to quit
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: or anything like that, but they could opt to take
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: red shirts those who haven't already played four games, and
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: you know, protect their eligibility if they want to go
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: somewhere else. And you know, I really am going to
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: keep my eye on what k Tron Allen and Nick
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: Singleton are going to be for the next few weeks,
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: because you know, their time is coming to an end
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: and they don't want to hurt their draft stock. And
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: you know, I don't think Drew necessarily hurt his draft
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: stock with the injury. I think his play on the
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: field might have heard his draft style before that. But
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: what I what I will say about Drew Aller is
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: similar to James Franklin, is the guy put in the time.
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: I think he was also put in a bad situation.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: We talked about the fit of the offensive coordinator higher
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: and maybe this is the biggest problem of the James
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: Franklin tenure. The biggest mistake was the hire of Andy
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: Kotlenicky because the gadget type plays with a pro style quarterback.
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: I never really understood the fit there. You know. You know,
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: if you if you were going to commit to Bo
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: Pribulah last year and he was going to be the
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: dual threat type quarterback, then it makes a lot of
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: sense to hire Andy Cotalnicky if you're going to commit
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: to a pro style quarterback. It didn't make a lot
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: of sense for for for Drew Aller to be running
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: that offense. But you know, when it comes to the players,
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: I think the right guys at the Helm, Terry Smith,
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: they always talk about how he's very transparent, he tells
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: the truth, he'll he'll give it to you straight, and
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: he saw that in his media availability. I've been very
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: impressed with the steady leadership. I think he's you know,
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: he's a Penn State guy played here in the late eighties,
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: early nineties. I like I like him as a leader.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: So far, will he get the job, I don't quite know.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: I want to see what he's able to do down
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: the stretch. I did see a little bit of a
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: swagger difference, you know, at at Iowa. I think it
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: was a tough spot for Ethan Grunkermeyer to come in.
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: I think he needed a little bit more, some more
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: reps to truly be comfortable in that hostile environment. But yeah,
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: it's a lot up in the air right now in
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: terms of the identity of the team, and it's not
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: going to be clear until once the new head coach
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: is hired, because you know, those players will figure out
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: am I going to be a good fit for this
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: person's style of play like? And then then I need
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: to make the tough decision and put myself in the
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: transfer portal. But you rest assured most of these guys
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: have already been contacted or representatives with an already been
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: contacted parents or whoever. There's going to be a lot
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: of wholesale changes at the end, and you know, whoever
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: comes in next year going to be a difficult challenge,
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: but not an impossible challenge because of the commitment of
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: leadership in the athletic department.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: It's a really good word you use their identity. What's
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: the identity of these players? And then the overall football
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: program too. And it's a good place for us to
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: close here, Mike, because I'm hoping you can give us
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: one word to describe the Penn State football program at
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: this particular point in time as we are recording this
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: October twentieth, twenty twenty five. What's that one word and
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: why would you use that word?
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: So I'm going to go with tentative because there's so
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: much that's been that's uncertain at this point, because you know,
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: a lot and change in two weeks. I think Terry
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: Smith is going to really take a look off this
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: bye week and look at the depth chart and find
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: out if the right players are going to be in
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: the lineup. You know, I think we saw it last
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: week at Iowa. Kobe Howard as a guy we heard
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: a lot about it from the wide receiver spot. He
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: is a younger, I believe he's a freshman wide receiver.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: He got into the game and made a catch and
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: made a first down and he's ready to go. Like
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: he puts something out on social media today where he
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: was like, oh, I was stuck in traffic, now I'm here.
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: So you know, I'm curious if a guy like Tyson
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: or Denmark, you know, at the wide receiver spot, a
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: guy that Penn State was competing with Oregon to get
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: his services, like, will he have an opportunity? Well, some
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: of the the running backs like Quinton Martin is a
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: guy who had an impact last year, will he have
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: an opportunity to you know, come in and spell k
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: Tron Allen and Nick Singleton. You know, there's there's gonna
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: be guys that are going to get an opportunity because
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: I think what Terry Smith has said is he wants
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: to make sure that the best players are out there
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: and putting them as a team in the best position
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: to win. So we're going to see Terry evaluate the staff,
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: he's going to evaluate the the depth chart, and he's
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: going to try to find the one thing I'll give
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: Anthony Goldennikki a lot of credit for doing last week
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: at Iowa, is you gave the ball to k Tron Arolyn.
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: I think like twenty eight times, one hundred and forty
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: yards in two touchdowns. Like you know, you didn't give
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: it to them on the most important play when that
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: final offensive drive where they gave it the Nick Singleton
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: inexplicably up the middle or one yard on a third down.
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: But you know, at the end of the day, I
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: think with the proper amount of preparation, like they lost
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: a practice the day that James Franklin was fired because
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: of all of the emotions that went into them. They
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: wanted to give the kids some time to reflect and
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: then come back fresh on Monday. But there was a
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: lot that happened in a short amount of time. And
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: even despite that, they were in a position to win
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: at Iowa, So you know, I you know, here, here's
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: one thing that I will say, James Franklin, I won
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: five against the spread this year. You know, Terry Smith
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: want to know, even though I took Iowa minus two
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: and a half and it was won by one, I
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: was smacking myself on the head there. But that's that's
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: just my luck this year with my with my wagers.
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: But no tentative would be the word that I'd look at.
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: And you know, until you have thatleadership in place, it'll
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: be a little bit tentative, so just ride the wave,
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: don't get too higher, don't get too low. If your
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: Penn State fan on. Once the Northwestern loss happened, I
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: mean this season was pretty much done to begin with.
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: So you just go out there and you play for
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: the yourself, your pride, and then of course the university.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: So that's what I want this team to do, and
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: I think Terry Smith will get the most out of
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: the players here the rest of the way.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: It's a great way to end this table talk interview
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: show this week here at the PST Podcast Show. If
• 32:27
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• 32:31
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• 32:40
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• 32:52
  Speaker 1: was great talking to you. Thank you so much as
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: always for taking the time to jump on always love
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: talking college football with you, Penn State football with you.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: Come back and let's let's talk about this Penn State
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: football program when things.
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: Are looking up a little bit.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: Yes, I would love to.
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: I'm going to This Penn State football program is gonna
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: be resurrected like Brandon Graham's career.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: WHOA, Well, let's see how his Let's see how his
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: resurrecting career goes over these next few weeks here, Mike,
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: thank you again, my friend. We'll talk to you down
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: the road. That's going to do it for us here
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: on Table Talk this week. Please share our podcast with
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• 33:55
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