On3's Brett McMurphy is sold on how good Penn State could be this fall, but enough to make them No. 1 in his preseason AP Poll with a little over two weeks to go until the season gets underway is a far different conversation.
McMurphy appeared on the latest edition of "Andy and Ari" Tuesday and took a deep dive into his rankings, how he determines them year after year, and why, ultimately, the Georgia Bulldogs should be viewed as college football's best team instead of Penn State.
"It wasn't necessarily, 'Oh, Georgia has been good the last few years, so they're gonna continue this year,'" McMurphy said. "It's kind of more what Andy said. They've stockpiled all this talent, and again, until James Franklin shows he can win a big game [in the College Football Playoff], I can't pull the trigger and put them at number one. When everything else says they probably should be number one with the talent and acquisitions at defensive coordinator."
Franklin was blunt following the Nittany Lions' loss to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl: he doesn't want the feeling he had to happen again, which was emptiness.
"We’ve got a throwback program with throwback uniforms," Franklin told reporters after the loss. "It’s about the guys. I understand the portal and NIL [is] a part of college football, and we’ll embrace that, but I want this to be more than transactional. I want it to be transformational."
Penn State will have a chance to redeem itself in a few weeks, but for now, the national media is still skeptical regarding its national title chances.
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Nevertheless, the hype couldn't be more anticipated.