Penn State and SMU carry the weight of history into their CFP debuts. They're both trying to shed it

DaQuan Jones remembers the chaos. The uncertainty. The sanctions. The aftermath. How could he not? He and the rest of his Penn State teammates — those that stuck around anyway — lived through it. Jones was a sophomore defensive lineman in the fall of 2011 when the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal brought one of college football's bluebloods to its knees and sent revered coach Joe Paterno into exile. It felt like a tipping point. "The program could have done a whole tanking and kind of completely went under," said Jones. Only, it didn't. While some transferred out in search of a fresh start, Jones was among those who stuck around. Bill O'Brien took on the impossible task of replacing an icon. Walk-ons filled the void left by the scholarship reductions levied by the NCAA as part of the fallout that shook the state's flagship institution to its foundation. Things were very fragile. Yet in those uncertain times, the Nittany Lions began the methodical process of building themselves anew, well aware of what was at stake. The memories remain fresh for Jones, now an 11-year NFL veteran in his third season as a starter for the Buffalo Bills. He's kept close tabs on his alma mater since graduating in 2014, and can draw a direct line from the rubble the program sifted through in the wake of Sandusky to the opportunity that awaits Penn State on Saturday when the sixth-seeded Nittany Lions (11-2) host 11th-seeded SMU (11-2) in the opening round of the College Football Playoff. "I think it all just starts with that firm foundation of the guys that stayed there in 2012," he said. "I'm just so happy to see the program do so well." Penn State's first invitation to the playoff will serve as another referendum on current coach James Franklin for a portion of a passionate fan base tired of of the program being on the fringe of the national championship conversation. For the former players now scattered across the NFL and the world, it will be a celebration. "The dark shadow of Penn State, it's good to finally be out of that," said Connor McGovern, an offensive lineman on the 2016 team that won the Big Ten title and "started to turn the narrative around." Sandusky is far from forgotten — he was resentenced just five years ago, still professing his innocence — the university has painstakingly worked to restore the program's reputation as a place where the players are competitive on the field and graduate off it, knowing any misstep will be magnified. It's why the men who have pulled the classic blue-and-white jerseys over their shoulder pads have a deep appreciation for what it took to get to this moment and how far-fetched it may have once seemed. "Coach O'Brien helped sustain that program," said Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth, a three-year starter for the Nittany Lions. "It was a tough job to be able to keep guys and keep things at a respectable level. And coach Franklin was able to build it and I'm just appreciative of being a part of that family." Penn State won't be the only team that runs onto the field at Beaver Stadium carrying the weight of history. SMU was a national power in the early 1980s — the Mustangs went 11-0-1 in 1982 only to finish No. 2 behind undefeated Penn State — before a pay-for-play scheme led the NCAA to give the program the death penalty. While the Nittany Lions stayed competitive as it rebuilt itself, SMU went a quarter century between bowl games and more than 30 years between appearances in the AP Top 25. This season, SMU became the first former Group of Five team to go undefeated in its first year in a major conference as it stormed to the ACC title game. This blush of success can feel fresh. It was born, however, out of what third-year coach Rhett Lashlee described as "a couple of decades of hard work" done by predecessors like June Jones and Sonny Dykes. "It's like a pickle jar effect," Lashlee said. "They all were trying to get the lid off, and they never got it off. But by the time we got here, we were able to pop the lid off because a lot of work to have been done by so many before." It's much the same now at Penn State. Had the CFP gone to 12 teams from its inception in 2014, the Nittany Lions might have been a fixture. No school has finished in the top 12 in the final CFP rankings more without actually making the playoff than Penn State. And yes, those who were parts of the near misses can't help but think of what might have been. "We would have made it pretty much every year, which would have been cool to experience," said Sean Clifford, a four-year starter at quarterback from 2019-22 whose younger brother Liam is a junior wide receiver on this year's team. The older Clifford, now a member of the Green Bay Packers practice squad, added that he has no grudges, laughingly pointing out that "there's a lot of things that have changed in the NCAA that I would have liked." One of the things that hasn't changed in State College is the way Franklin goes about doing his job. More than a half-dozen former Nittany Lions now in the NFL interviewed by The Associated Press pointed to his leadership as one of the reasons why Penn State has pulled itself back from the brink. "He cares about us deeply," said punter Jordan Stout, now with the Baltimore Ravens. "He knows your mom. He knows your dad. He knows your brother, sister, cousin, third cousin." Miami Dolphins rookie linebacker Chop Robinson credited Franklin for treating his players like men "if you approached everything like a man. ... That's what I loved about him." Robinson and others hear the criticism of Franklin, who is 1-14 against top 10 teams in his 11-year tenure. "If they don't make it far, then I think everyone's just going to be like, 'fire Franklin, fire Franklin,'" Stout said. "Obviously that's not the right call in my opinion." There will be more than a fair amount of pressure on the 52-year-old Franklin on Saturday. Then again, he's used to the weight. The problems he faces now are the kind he could only dream about on Jan. 11, 2014, when he pledged at his introductory press conference to "build this program (to) where everybody wants it to be." Now that it's almost there, Jones wonders if maybe it's not time to focus on the increasingly narrow gap between the Nittany Lions and the top, but the canyon it has no nimbly navigated to get here. Yes, he is well-versed in the seemingly annual tough losses to the Ohio States of the world. Yet he also remembers the performance of those sanction-laden teams littered with walk-ons when the wounds wrought by Sandusky's downfall were still so fresh. Those teams hung in there and walked so the current Nittany Lions could run. If and when Penn State finds itself playing deep into January, Jones knows the first steps weren't taken this fall, but long before. "That's a testament to what Penn State really means," Jones said. "Hard-working people (who) got to work every day, put (their) head down, don't look for glory and go out there and just collect the wins."