Main mission for Penn State: Topping last year's success

James Franklin began his stay as Penn State's head football coach low on scholarships and lower still on offensive linemen. Now as he enters his fourth season, he has the maximum number of scholarships allowed by the NCAA and enough offensive linemen to push a train down the tracks.

Franklin has entered a brave new world. In reality, it's an old familiar world for those who hark back to the days of Joe Paterno's Nittany Lions in the late 1970s or the early to mid 1980s or much of the 1990s, when a successful season was predictable and the occasional run to challenge for a national championship was expected.

Penn State experienced that level of accomplishment last season for the first time under Franklin. With the grumbling of the fan faithful at its loudest following the 49-10 debacle at Michigan, the Lions won their next nine games, captured the Big Ten championship with a stirring comeback, missed a berth in the College Football Playoff by the smallest margin possible, and went toe-to-toe with Southern California in an epic Rose Bowl that wasn't decided until the final gun.

After back-to-back 7-6 seasons in Franklin's first two years, when he was still dealing with scholarship restrictions, the Nittany Lions are now where their fans want them to be, and not just because they are ranked sixth in the preseason. With 15 of their 22 starters back from the offense and defense for 2017 plus their punter and kicker, the Lions face expectations of duplicating or, better yet, exceeding the achievements of last season and taking that last step into the playoffs.

Yet the question remains: Can they do it?

It would seem a pretty daunting task. Can quarterback Trace McSorley rewrite the record books yet again after establishing program marks last season for passing yards (3,614), touchdown passes (29), and total offense (3,979)? The redshirt junior averaged 9.34 yards per attempt (sixth in FBS) and completed 64 passes of 20 yards or more.

And what about Saquon Barkley, who appears to be the consensus No. 1 running back in the nation starting out? Last season, he rolled up 1,972 all-purpose yards, second-highest in program history, and rushed for 1,496 yards and 18 touchdowns. The sky would appear to be the limit for Barkley, who is stronger and faster than in 2016.

For his part, Franklin is as loose as he's ever been since arriving in Happy Valley. A contract extension to keep him through 2022 with his salary steadily climbing north of $5 million, and later $6 million, certainly helps. His entire staff has returned, including offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead, the architect of last year's fast-paced attack.

He likes the makeup of his team, the experience, the talent, and particularly the depth.

"This is the first time since I've been here that we have a three-deep at every position," Franklin said this past week on CBS Sports Radio. "We have a starter that we think we can win the Big Ten with, with a guy backing him up that we feel has the ability to play in the Big Ten and win in the Big Ten. Then we have a young, exciting No. 3 at every position."

For Penn State to come close to matching or topping last year's lofty offensive totals, which included averages of 432.6 yards and 37.6 points per game, the defense and special teams have to pick up some areas of deficiency that would enable McSorley, Barkley, and company to gain extra possessions and start in better field position.

The Nittany Lions intercepted just 10 passes last season and were merely a plus-1 in turnover margin. Only six of their picks were made by defensive backs.

"We weren't happy with the amount of turnovers we had last year," cornerback Grant Haley said. "If a ball is on the ground, if a ball is in the air, we become an offensive player and have to have that mind-set to go get it. We definitely feel like we missed some opportunities. We've got to take more chances, too, to get those opportunities."

Penn State also needs to make more happen in the return game. The Lions ranked 87^th nationally in kickoff returns (19.69) and 94^th in punt returns (6.47) last year. This season, they believe they have a deeper and more experienced pool of return men from which to choose.

"It's one area that we feel like we can make a big improvement in," special-teams coach Charles Huff said, "not because we're going to draw up some great play or we've got this secret weapon. But it's just the guys are a year older. They understand the scheme a little bit more, so that will help us moving forward."

Another area of question is at defensive end, where the production of Garrett Sickels and Evan Schwan (six sacks each in 2016) will be hard to match. Franklin said in his radio interview that Shareef Miller (George Washington) and Torrance Brown will be the starters with others ready go to, including Ryan Buchholz (Great Valley) and Shaka Toney (Imhotep Charter).

"The defensive end position [has] been a major emphasis for us knowing we had to get those guys ready and try to replace some of that production, so we feel good," he said.

Two of the more interesting positions to watch will be wide receiver, where Juwan Johnson (Glassboro) has continued his great play from spring workouts, and cornerback, where Christian Campbell will replace John Reid (St. Joseph's Prep), who has a serious knee injury and may miss the entire season.

The players are ready, the systems on offense and defense are in place, and the ranking is lofty, all of which means expectations are raging. The bar is set high, but you can bet Franklin and his team like it that way, and are ready to accept the challenge to surpass a special season.