Hey, hey, hey!
You know that the strength of college football overcomes all of this, especially at a school (make that location) like Penn State.
The reason for me saying this is that the school is currently cranking out a very good recruiting class, if not more powered by the school influence on the rankings than anything else. I spent an hour last weekend looking at Penn State's recruiting from the perspective of Maryland football. The common wisdom on MD football is that they are sinking and sinking fast. I believe that this feeling is mostly based on a paper in the Post that really doesn't like the MD coach... one may say that they are lazy asses, but who am I to say so?
Also, the fan base is particularyly odd and cranky. They take their own hard times out on the new coach. The players, assuming that one can look at everything from a non-conformist position, had some prima donnas on it... had. They are gone.One might say that the very immediate future looks bleak. It could be average to bad.
What is very note worthy is that the MD coaching staff, especially since bringing Mike Locksley back to the staff, has exploded on the recruiting scene. They have done some major recruiting and own MD. I was struck at the time that you don't see Penn St picking up or competing with MD talent like they used to. In fact, MD is up in PA and getting number 2 in a position if Penn State still gets the number one player. Even before you adjust for ranking inflation that Penn State and the majors get, MD is averaging about 28 or 29 for the current and last season combined.
With this in mind, herve, one might say from the viewpoint of the state of Maryland that Penn St is only still alive in-state. I am thinking that out-of-state athletes just aren't interested. It may also work out that such a situation at Penn State may also help Maryland recover.