James Franklin feels the pressure mounting at Penn State. Fans aren’t just hoping for a playoff berth; they expect a championship run. While his 34-8 record since 2022 looks impressive, it’s less so against elite competition. He’s 2-7 against top-10 teams and winless against top-five opponents in the last three years—only one such victory since 2016. But this year the winds are blowing differently.

With the Big Ten’s fourth-ranked recruiting class and 28 early commitments, Franklin is already taking up the charge. But what’s wrong with getting some advice, right? That’s exactly why Penn State’s broadcasting legend, Steve Jones, is urging him to follow in Joe Paterno’s footsteps.

With 409 victories, this man is the most victorious coach in NCAA FBS history. And he was also Penn State’s head coach from 1966 to 2011 and won two national championships back in the years 1982 and 1986. Now that James Franklin is going to start another season with a hope to win the natty after getting shorted by Notre Dame last season, Steve Jones has nothing but wisdom for him.

Jones said on Locked on the Nittany Lions, “Look, you just take it one step at a time. I remember Joe [Paterno] in that particular season kept saying, ‘I’m not going to really know how good my team is until they face adversity.’ And then they played at Illinois, and we’re in this circular Holiday Inn—right?—that now is an office building, and all the power went out. And instead of having a pregame meal, they brought in pizzas,” Jones said. A complete havoc that was just making things more and more difficult for them. But what’s the point Steve Jones wants to make? Simple: adversity reveals a team’s true identity.

That’s what happened with Paterno’s team back in their game against Illinois in 1994. In that game during the entire first quarter, Penn State was trailing behind a 21-0 record and just had three quarters left against the No. 1 defense in the Big Ten at that time. But even Joe Paterno’s team offense was rated first in the country. Against Illinois, they just had 19 yards with not a single first down. Now, as Jones said, taking one step at a time, they moved and won the game in the last minutes. “And then the buses got waylaid going to the stadium, and Penn State fell behind 21–nothing to a very talented Illinois team that had a great defense—Dana Howard, Simeon Rice, right, all those guys on that team. And Penn State came back with the big drive at the end and won the game 35–31,” Jones said.

That’s exactly what James Franklin needs to do; rather than accepting his fate, he should fight back with all his power. And this season is the test of his resilience. Jones even gave another example to him when Cincinnati made things tough for them. But Joe made sure his team fired back. “So you just don’t know… The game that almost tripped them up in ’86 was Cincinnati. Ben had to make a late drive against Cincinnati, and Shane Conlan got a big safety in that game late. Blair Thomas had a couple of big catches from John Shaffer in that game late. They won the game—I think it was like 23–7,” said Jones. No wonder they won the Natty that year.

Penn State’s national championship seasons saw them nearly stumble against underdogs. For Franklin, the takeaway is that true greatness means handling chaos, not just winning the big games. But what about the $40 million pressure hanging on his shoulders?

$40 million threat hangs over James Franklin’s program’s future

A $2.8 billion settlement is anticipated in House v. NCAA, as Judge Wilken is likely to authorize direct payments to athletes before July 1st. A $20.5 million limit would apply to all school sports, in theory, but football will see its allocation reduced because of stronger enforcement. Enter the Deloitte-run clearinghouse, tasked with cutting NIL deals over $600. “People are trying to offload money now,” said South Carolina GM Darren Uscher. “This will be the last cycle where guys are getting big paychecks because of rev share.”

With this change, there are teams like Ohio State, Oregon, Texas, Texas Tech, and Miami that can be the ones spending $40 million on their roster. We all know about Ohio State’s $20 million roster expenditure last season, and it’s estimated that this offseason, even the Red Raiders invested more than $10 million to bring in the No. 1 transfer portal class with 18 players. Now, that’s not the case with James Franklin’s Penn State, and Zack Seyko isn’t sugarcoating it.

“Ohio State’s— Oregon and Ohio State’s NIL situation is in a much better spot than Penn State’s. Penn State has caught up to where it’s relevant, but they’re still within the top 10. If you look at any metric, Oregon and Ohio State are ahead,” Seyko said. “And whether you want to use that as, like, hey, good on Oregon and Ohio State because they’ve adapted with the times and that’s Penn State’s problem to figure out, or it’s just the realistic answer — there’s no good or bad of it — it’s that if you have millions of dollars more to spend and commit to roster construction, you’re probably going to have a better roster.” Look, they might not be a part of the $40 million roster, but it’s not like they aren’t making moves.

Pat Kraft floored the gas pedal. Penn State’s athletic director plans to spend the full $20.5 million allowed under the NCAA’s new revenue-sharing model, aiming for $30 million, eventually. That’s significant, but a small fraction of PSU athletics’ nearly $221 million in gross revenues for 2023-24. This new model finally gives athletes a share of the revenue—TV deals, tickets, parking, concessions, merchandise, everything. Last year, the Big Ten sent Penn State $60 million. This year? $73 million. Projections reach $100 million by 2030. The money’s flowing freely now. So, it’s just a matter of time until James Franklin’s team crashes the $40 million party.