I don’t know what it is about James Franklin and emotional losses, but after eight years, he still has not figured out how to get his team to move on from one, and play inspired football next time.
Instead, the Illini controlled the game from start to finish, and, if not for several turnovers, would have won this game going away. Penn State was a decided favorite, at home, coming off a bye week where they could have prepared the team to simply keep the Illini at arm’s length. Illinois may win a game or two moving forward, but it’s not likely they win more than that.
Another loss to Michigan State followed, coming off a bye.Ģ019, the gut wrenching loss was to Minnesota this time, all but eliminating themselves out of playoff contention before the one against Ohio State was even played.Ģ020, the season-opening loss to Indiana was so shocking, it sent the team into a tailspin they wouldn’t get out of until the season was well out of hand.Īnd of course, 2021, the year it finally looked like everything was coming together, only to have it all derailed by a loss to Iowa that would lead to what is maybe the worst loss of them all. The one that should have been in hand but wasn’t. They lost to Michigan State the next week.Ģ018, the 4th and five game. Otherwise,Ģ014, an emotional loss to Ohio State was followed by a flat game against Maryland, which they lost.Ģ015**, another emotional loss to Northwestern was followed by three consecutive losses to end the year.Ģ017, the first of several gut wrenching losses to Ohio State, the Nittany Lions led for all but one minute of the game, only to see themselves lose. In James Franklin’s eight and a half seasons as coach of Penn State, he has failed to lose consecutive games exactly once: The fated 2016 season, where things seemed to fall right into place at the perfect time. Let’s add “Penn State’s 2-loss Curse™” to the mix. Clemsoning, Sparty, No! Purdue Harbor, these are all* memes we grew to love due to the absurdity of how consistent, yet increasingly unlikely, the chances of them happening were. I figured I’d be writing this a week from now, but here we are.
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