When was the last time Penn State was a dominant force?

Do you remember the last time Penn State was a dominant force? If so, you are probably over the hill.

Penn State head coach James Franklin was recently a guest on the Dan Patrick Show. Unlike his counterpart at Michigan, Jim Harbaugh, and his experience with Colin Cowherd, Franklin — per usual — had plenty to say while selling the Penn State program. To those who track every interview Franklin does in the media, many of the quotes you hear will begin to sound scripted, and to a certain degree they likely are. But every now and then Franklin will find a new way to sell his message to the fans and recruits.

As noted by Jeff Rice of Lions 247, Franklin is embracing coaching Penn State as a trendy favorite, or at least a program on the rise. This is new territory for him after his years at Vanderbilt. Few would argue Penn State is not heading in a positive direction. The recruiting rankings show Franklin and his staff have done well to begin to rebuild this program, and Franklin realizes the Penn State he is coaching now is not the same level of program it once was when he was in high school. Kids today just do not remember the last time Penn State was a legitimate national title contender, let alone a perennial force.

“They remember the Penn State in the 80s and being dominant so long, and we haven’t been that way in recent history,” Franklin said while referring to most of the Penn State fan base. “What we’ve got to do is get back to that. If you ask high school or junior high players right now, they don’t remember that.”

That last sentence made me realize just how old I am.

I was born in 1981, so I have been alive for both of Penn State’s national championships in the 1980s, but the only way I ever experienced either was off VHS recordings my dad made of the Sugar Bowl against Georgia and the Fiesta Bowl against Miami. Kids, VHS is what we used in the days before DVR or YouTube were things that existed. Since that national championship Penn State has had one team that deserved at least a split of the national championship (1994) and some teams that were considered national title contenders that fell flat (1997, 1999) with the sporadic memorable season sprinkled in (2005, 2008).

It has now been five straight seasons without a Top 25 finish in the AP poll (even during the brief sanction years, Penn State would have been eligible for AP votes). An 18-year old high school senior just graduating in the Class of 2015 was born in 1997. Since then, Penn State has finished a season in the AP top 10 three times, and outside of the top 25 an astounding 10 times. From 1980 until 1992, just before joining the Big Ten, Penn State finished in the AP top 10 a total of six times, and outside of the AP top 25 five times. Of course, that stretch included a pair of national titles, not to mention three separate No. 3 rankings and victories in five of today’s New Years Six bowl games. The only way high school recruits know about that now is by looking it up on Wikipedia or YouTube. This is what Franklin is talking about when he tries seeing how recruits today view the Penn State football program.

I have been calling Penn State a sleeping giant for years now. I first started referring to the program as that in the later years of the Joe Paterno era. The potential was always there for Penn State to return to a dominant form capable of giving Ohio State a run for their money on a regular basis, but it was always a matter of when the program would be given some new blood at the head coaching position in my eyes. Bill O’Brien gave the program a bit of a spark when he took over, and now it is James Franklin looking to continue to build and keep the program heading in the right direction. It takes time to develop the talent to compete at such a high level, but the motive is there on the staff to make Penn State football matter the way it once did in the 1980s and 1970s, so 18 years from now kids being recruited will recognize Penn State as a national title contender and just another team in Ohio State’s division.

Follow Nittany Lions Den on Twitter and Like Nittany Lions Den on Facebook.