January Banter 2025

[psuhoffman]

5 minutes ago, ravensrule said:

Tell us how you really feel. 

ok the PSU alumni are losers too bc they like the guy because he beats all the crap schools they play every year and so they always get a nice postseason vacation or get to act like their still college students 5 times a year when they beat up on some mid level school not on their level. It’s pathetic. They are losers too. 
 

[WVclimo]

Before the game, Kirk Herbstreit predicted that a close game would be decided late on a Penn State turnover that would give Notre Dame the victory.  Pretty damned good call.

[pazzo83]

41 minutes ago, psuhoffman said:

I hope PSU fires Franklin so I can root for them again. I don’t root for losers and that guy is a huge loser!  They will never ever sniff a championship with him. 
 

And before people start with “PSU isn’t A level” yes I know their recruiting classes aren’t on the same level as Ohio state or Alabama. They shouldn’t win as often as they do.  But they just lost to a team with a lower recruiting class than them. PSU is usually somewhere around 8-12 in recruiting talent rank. Schools below that win a national championship once every few years.  But to do that you have to beat a team with more talent than you once in a while and Franklin never ever will because he is boring, scared, gutless, lacks any creativity and is a loser  

 

PSU should be able to recruit better.  You have the Philly, NYC, and to a lesser extent DMV metros right there.

[pazzo83]

26 minutes ago, WVclimo said:

Before the game, Kirk Herbstreit predicted that a close game would be decided late on a Penn State turnover that would give Notre Dame the victory.  Pretty damned good call.

lol almost too good

[pazzo83]

I remember when we were kids and ND was playing in a big game, my Nana couldn't watch.  So she'd leave the room and make us tell her what was happening lol.  I was like that tonight.

[WxUSAF]

I’m not a Franklin defender, but don’t think that game was in him. Allar had a horrific night and a fluke of 2 DBs slipping on one play lost that game. 

[snowfan]

36 minutes ago, WxUSAF said:

I’m not a Franklin defender, but don’t think that game was in him. Allar had a horrific night and a fluke of 2 DBs slipping on one play lost that game. 

This.

[snowfan]

7 hours ago, psuhoffman said:

I hope PSU fires Franklin so I can root for them again. I don’t root for losers and that guy is a huge loser!  They will never ever sniff a championship with him. 
 

And before people start with “PSU isn’t A level” yes I know their recruiting classes aren’t on the same level as Ohio state or Alabama. They shouldn’t win as often as they do.  But they just lost to a team with a lower recruiting class than them. PSU is usually somewhere around 8-12 in recruiting talent rank. Schools below that win a national championship once every few years.  But to do that you have to beat a team with more talent than you once in a while and Franklin never ever will because he is boring, scared, gutless, lacks any creativity and is a loser  

 

You have written a lot of really dumb things on this board in recent years and this is right up there at the top. You should stick to reminding everyone on this sub about how you average more snow than everyone else east of the apps. 

[dailylurker]

15 minutes ago, snowfan said:

You have written a lot of really dumb things on this board in recent years and this is right up there at the top. You should stick to reminding everyone on this sub about how you average more snow than everyone else east of the apps. 

Use too. Bacon Ridge in AA County at an elevation of 180' (my hiking area) has done better 4 of the past 5 years lol. Just having fun with PSU. 

[psuhoffman]

7 hours ago, pazzo83 said:

PSU should be able to recruit better.  You have the Philly, NYC, and to a lesser extent DMV metros right there.

They took a bad dip during the turmoil post Paterno and they fully deserved too. It took me a long time to fully care much again and I played soccer for PSU. 
 

But in the last 10 years they’ve crept back into the top 10 in recruiting 4 years and had a year at 4. That’s about as high as they ever were. And plenty good enough to compete for a title if you have a coach that can elevate the talent sometimes, which they don’t. 

1 hour ago, WxUSAF said:

I’m not a Franklin defender, but don’t think that game was in him. Allar had a horrific night and a fluke of 2 DBs slipping on one play lost that game. 

You’re 100% that nothing he did last night lost the game. Although I favor aggressiveness and would argue punting on 4th and short multiple times cedes control of the game flow to Notre Dame. I’d prefer to lose on my terms if I’m gonna lose. 
 

But the bigger issue is he did nothing to elevate them, again, when up against a team they can match or exceed their talent at the line of scrimmage. His record against teams with a similar talent level is atrocious. I’ll give him that he is really good at motivating them never to have a let down. They almost never lose to a lesser team and that gets them to 10 wins every year and a finish between 5-15. 
 

But his game style is to just lean on a dominant line on both sides and when he runs up against a team like Ohio State or Michigan that they can’t just maul at the line he does absolutely nothing different. No creativity. Nothing aggressive. Nothing to shake up the paradigm. He just tries the same thing and loses. 
 

Was what went down late his fault no. But it was maybe his fault they weren’t up more with 10 mins left and it doesn’t have to go that way. And maybe he does something bold and this one game it kills them. But over the years a better coach (like Notre Danes) would have won some of all these chances he’s had against top teams and that’s all in asking for. Not to win them all. Not to win most. Win maybe 1 out of 4.  I’d rather they have a few more bad seasons where they finish out of the top 20 but one year every 15 or 20 they win a title than what they do now.  They have the talent to do that. But not the way Franklin has them play imo. 

[psuhoffman]

@WxUSAF btw if you look at his record against teams that had a 4 year recruiting rating in the top 12 when he faced them it’s even more damning than the 1–17 record they were showing last night. Because sometimes a team overachieves or falls off in the rankings. But if you look at when he plays a squad with similar talent to his he is hopeless. It’s 1-22!  

[WxUSAF]

8 minutes ago, psuhoffman said:

@WxUSAF btw if you look at his record against teams that had a 4 year recruiting rating in the top 12 when he faced them it’s even more damning than the 1–17 record they were showing last night. Because sometimes a team overachieves or falls off in the rankings. But if you look at when he plays a squad with similar talent to his he is hopeless. It’s 1-22!  

Oh yeah no disagreement that he has wayyy underperformed against teams that they want to be seen as peers of

[Interstate]

Who remember watching the Weather Channel and waiting for the Winter Red Screen.  I loved watching that Bulletin Board scroll.

[Harv_poor]

Kind of agree with what is being said in that Franklin seems to be a guaranteed 10 wins but not the big one. Its been 50 years since I graduated from there, and losing due to a turn over  and then a score has to be one of the cruelist defeats. Just thought OT was guaranteed and then it is a crap shoot.

 

 

[snowfan]

4 minutes ago, WxUSAF said:

Oh yeah no disagreement that he has wayyy underperformed against teams that they want to be seen as peers of

This goes far beyond just Franklin on game day. He’s compared to schools like OSU, Bama, Mich, etc that up until recently, had far greater commitment to winning regardless of expense and had resources at their disposal that Franklin couldn’t even touch. The inner dynamics at PSU have been a mess since the scandal. Slowly but surely Franklin and his camp have been able to turn the tide and gain more support for improving things like recruiting budget, NIL budget, facilities renovations, etc. I can write with 1000% confidence based on very reliable info that the dude has put everything into fighting for more with pushback from the old guard admin and old guard boosters that are still bitter about things that went down up there more than a decade ago. 
 

Now, Franklin is far from perfect and does deserve blame for some of the more high profile loses they’ve taken in recent years, but someone (not you) to say the guy is a loser is absurd. PSU is top 10 in both wins and winning percentage amongst P4 schools in the last decade. And he’s now taken them to 2 rose bowls, 2 fiesta bowls, a cotton bowl, peach bowl and made it to the CFP semifinal all in the last 9 seasons. Is he Nick Saban or Kirby Smart? F no. But Bama and Georgia also throw everything they have into winning. PSU has not until very recently. 

[psuhoffman]

1 hour ago, snowfan said:

This goes far beyond just Franklin on game day. He’s compared to schools like OSU, Bama, Mich, etc that up until recently, had far greater commitment to winning regardless of expense and had resources at their disposal that Franklin couldn’t even touch. The inner dynamics at PSU have been a mess since the scandal. Slowly but surely Franklin and his camp have been able to turn the tide and gain more support for improving things like recruiting budget, NIL budget, facilities renovations, etc. I can write with 1000% confidence based on very reliable info that the dude has put everything into fighting for more with pushback from the old guard admin and old guard boosters that are still bitter about things that went down up there more than a decade ago. 
 

Now, Franklin is far from perfect and does deserve blame for some of the more high profile loses they’ve taken in recent years, but someone (not you) to say the guy is a loser is absurd. PSU is top 10 in both wins and winning percentage amongst P4 schools in the last decade. And he’s now taken them to 2 rose bowls, 2 fiesta bowls, a cotton bowl, peach bowl and made it to the CFP semifinal all in the last 9 seasons. Is he Nick Saban or Kirby Smart? F no. But Bama and Georgia also throw everything they have into winning. PSU has not until very recently. 

What's his best win in the last 5 years?  Sorry I don't make excuses, I expect results.  I acknowledged in a recent post their recruitment has only recently recovered and improved.  But that is all the more reason it's time to move on to a coach that can get more out of their now higher level of talent.  Franklin does not coach the way the modern college game demands.  The only way his style would work is if they had the talent level of Ohio State or Alabama and could just maul people at the line no matter how good they are.  PSU is unlikely to ever get to THAT extreme A+ level, even in their hayday they were a A- level just below the top 5 schools in recruitment.  To win a title with that level of talent you need a system that maximizes and gets more than the sum of your parts our of the talent.  Franklin does not.  

It's not personal, I am not calling him a loser as a human being, but he is a loser in terms of his ability to get more out of his talent as a football coach.  They will continue to be what they have been if they keep him, they will win all their games v lesser talent and go 10-2 and lose to Ohio St and Michigan and then when they run into a good team in the playoffs every year.

Some are totally happy with that.  I am not.  I would rather they have a few years they are out of the top 20 but one year a decade they are a legit title contender than that.  

[snowfan]

11 minutes ago, psuhoffman said:

What's his best win in the last 5 years?  Sorry I don't make excuses, I expect results.  I acknowledged in a recent post their recruitment has only recently recovered and improved.  But that is all the more reason it's time to move on to a coach that can get more out of their now higher level of talent.  Franklin does not coach the way the modern college game demands.  The only way his style would work is if they had the talent level of Ohio State or Alabama and could just maul people at the line no matter how good they are.  PSU is unlikely to ever get to THAT extreme A+ level, even in their hayday they were a A- level just below the top 5 schools in recruitment.  To win a title with that level of talent you need a system that maximizes and gets more than the sum of your parts our of the talent.  Franklin does not.  

It's not personal, I am not calling him a loser as a human being, but he is a loser in terms of his ability to get more out of his talent as a football coach.  They will continue to be what they have been if they keep him, they will win all their games v lesser talent and go 10-2 and lose to Ohio St and Michigan and then when they run into a good team in the playoffs every year.

Some are totally happy with that.  I am not.  I would rather they have a few years they are out of the top 20 but one year a decade they are a legit title contender than that.  

So they will lose to the teams that out resource PSU and because of that, Franklin is a loser. You need to sit this one out. You love to argue and debate with everyone on this board and you lack self awareness to step aside when you are wrong. Please just let this one go. 

[psuhoffman]

7 minutes ago, snowfan said:

So they will lose to the teams that out resource PSU and because of that, Franklin is a loser. You need to sit this one out. You love to argue and debate with everyone on this board and you lack self awareness to step aside when you are wrong. Please just let this one go. 

I would prefer a coach with a style that has more variance.  I will acknowledge a more aggressive coach with a more gutsy style will also lose more sometimes.  They will have seasons that blows up and costs them a few games and they finish 8-5 and out of it totally.  But there will be years it pays off and they upset a better team and maybe win it all.  I prefer that.  This is not a right or wrong thing its a preference.  I have mine.  You can have yours.  

They lost to a team with less talent last night.  Notre Dame has a slightly lower recruiting rating the last 4 years than PSU!  That part of your argument is invalid.  They don't just lose to teams better than them, they also lose to teams on their same level.  But more importantly, they lose EVERYTIME they play someone with more talent.  They NEVER pull the upset.  Football is a game of high variance.   You should be able to win 1 of 3 chances v a slightly more talented team.  But not the way Franklin coaches.  He is very conservative.  The way he coaches actually decreases variance, which is good if you are the more talented team and is why he never loses to Indiana or Purdue or any of the other lower level schools they play.  But is also why they will never beat Ohio State.  

 

[snowfan]

12 minutes ago, psuhoffman said:

I would prefer a coach with a style that has more variance.  I will acknowledge a more aggressive coach with a more gutsy style will also lose more sometimes.  They will have seasons that blows up and costs them a few games and they finish 8-5 and out of it totally.  But there will be years it pays off and they upset a better team and maybe win it all.  I prefer that.  This is not a right or wrong thing its a preference.  I have mine.  You can have yours.  

They lost to a team with less talent last night.  Notre Dame has a slightly lower recruiting rating the last 4 years than PSU!  That part of your argument is invalid.  They don't just lose to teams better than them, they also lose to teams on their same level.  But more importantly, they lose EVERYTIME they play someone with more talent.  They NEVER pull the upset.  Football is a game of high variance.   You should be able to win 1 of 3 chances v a slightly more talented team.  But not the way Franklin coaches.  He is very conservative.  The way he coaches actually decreases variance, which is good if you are the more talented team and is why he never loses to Indiana or Purdue or any of the other lower level schools they play.  But is also why they will never beat Ohio State.  

 

Imagine writing that the coach is conservative when the game was lost on a play where the QB was being aggressive and pushing the ball downfield and threw back over the middle of the field late in the 4th qtr with less than a minute left in the game resulting in a killer INT. Dude…please stop. You’re way out of your element here. Go lecture someone else. 

[psuhoffman]

7 minutes ago, snowfan said:

Imagine writing that the coach is conservative when the game was lost on a play where the QB was being aggressive and pushing the ball downfield and threw back over the middle of the field late in the 4th qtr with less than a minute left in the game resulting in a killer INT. Dude…please stop. You’re way out of your element here. Go lecture someone else. 

First of all you're drilling down to a single play to make a point on a narrative I developed over years of examples.

 

Throwing the ball there is not that agressive.  I am totally sure the play call was not for Allar to freeze up for 3 seconds and then throw across his body as he is being hit across the field.  I am sure he would have preferred he make that first read, which was much more safe, or throw it away.  That was a brain fart on Allar.  But Franklin put him in that spot when he punted on 4th and 2.  That handed the game script to Notre Dame.  Yea if they go and dont get it they lose, but its on their terms.  Or you give them the ball at the 30 there and make a stop and get the ball back with more time and not deep in your own end.  I would prefer a more aggressive coach that pushes the envelope and takes risks and plays the game on HIS terms!  That is my preference.  And I admit that will blow up and lose you games sometimes. 

My father has this argument with me all the time.  He thinks the Eagles coach is sometimes way too aggressive, which is funny because sometimes I think he isn't even aggressive enough and want him to be 100% balls to the walls Detroit style!  Go go go, take every chance and let the chips fall.  Take the game and if you lose lose because you screwed up not because you let the other team hang around and beat you.  If I lose I want it to be on my terms.  Dont let the other team have any control over the game script.  That's how you upset better teams and make a run.  And yes it will cause loses, I am willing to accept that, for the times it brings upset wins! 

[Harv_poor]

CBS Sportsline had a non-positive article about Franking this morning. One key point was the drop in recruiting since 2022.

 

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/whats-next-for-penn-state-after-orange-bowl-loss-it-starts-with-james-franklin-whos-1-18-vs-top-5-teams/

[Lowershoresadness]

had no idea there were 122 NWS offices. Cool to see where each office area is.

[psuhoffman]

18 minutes ago, Lowershoresadness said:

had no idea there were 122 NWS offices. Cool to see where each office area is.

I'm pretty familiar with LWX, CTP,PHI, ALY, BTV, GYX, BOU, RIW, SLC and ABQ, rarely read anything from the others.  

[cbmclean]

@psuhoffman

We never did get a trip report.  How was the snow/temps in BC?

[nj2va]

Texas looks like they’re getting blown out tonight so far. 

[diatae]

10" or more snowpack on the ground in the plains. Time to flip through the Guerney's seed catalog for some indoor starts.

[LordBaltimore]

As a long term (~30 year out) project I've been thinking how feasible it would be to create a microclimate somewhere in the WV highlands that maximizes yearly snowcover. Imagine buying a couple acre property on a 3000+ft hilltop, then digging out a 30ish ft deep artificial cold sink large enough for a cabin and a modest yard. The pit and surrounding wind breaks would have to be designed in such a way as to minimize turbulent mixing. That would then take care of advective warming, and snowmaking throughout the year would reflect away any insolation. Not sure how to deal with downward long wave yet though. Ultimate goal would be maintaining pack into late june

[wxdude64]

2 minutes ago, LordBaltimore said:

As a long term (~30 year out) project I've been thinking how feasible it would be to create a microclimate somewhere in the WV highlands that maximizes yearly snowcover. Imagine buying a couple acre property on a 3000+ft hilltop, then digging out a 30ish ft deep artificial cold sink large enough for a cabin and a modest yard. The pit and surrounding wind breaks would have to be designed in such a way as to minimize turbulent mixing. That would then take care of advective warming, and snowmaking throughout the year would reflect away any insolation. Not sure how to deal with downward long wave yet though. Ultimate goal would be maintaining pack into late june

I like your thinking lol.

[WxWatcher007]

I’m ashamed. 

The retired Reaper and Lord High Executioner  got too comfortable. Got too caring in watching people get snow. Got too open to allowing winter to restart my cold, dead, heart. 

I had hope, and it killed me (again).

May the darkness be eternal during this Godforsaken season.

[Steve25]

I've seen a few people saying the potential pattern around the 20th and beyond reminds them of 2013/2014. Can someone remind me of the storms we got during that time? I know there weren't any huge storms, but the winter overall was well above average. Was it a bunch of like 4-8 inch events?