get to the national championship game. That's the bar and it's a high one. And that's regardless of how good the next coach is. One of the effects of the 12 team playoff is that the odds of any one team winning it all go down. That's just simple math and probability. So your goal is already harder than it used to be in the past. Then you factor in the conference competition in the Big Ten. Yes they are more likely to get multiple bids than the ACC but you're still going against teams that have a talent and/or money advantage way more often. And that doesn't seem like it's changing any time soon. Ohio State is obviously a machine. Michigan will always be committed to a winning program. Indiana has elevated itself. Oregon has Nike money. Should Penn State expect to beat those type of teams at the top of the conference regularly? Because if the bar is the title game then you're going to have to do that. I'm not even a big Franklin supporter but I said when Penn State fired him (and before he was ever even a possibility here) that I thought they had made a mistake. Regardless of how Franklin's time plays out here I still believe that simply because of the requirements for the next guy to be "better". The most likely outcome is that they end up with someone who has similar or worse results.