ALTOONA, Pa. -- Penn State has really good football facilities, and for a long time, Nittany Lion fans were led to believe the school's facilities were as good as anybody else's in the country.
But that hasn't been the case for many, many years, something Bill O'Brien pointed out when he came on board in 2012, and James Franklin has continued to stress over time.
And it's certainly not the case right now, as proven by the latest rankings of college football facilities.
247Sports released its annual list of the top 25 college football facilities in the nation. As always, it's fascinating going through the rankings to see how much money so many programs are spending to keep up with the Joneses in the arms race.
Where does Penn State rank in the top 25?
Ummm ... nowhere.
Which is, or at least should be, very revealing and even humbling for a school that boasts being "Unrivaled" with a 107,00-seat stadium and the largest alumni base in the world.
Here's the top 25 from 247Sports' Brad Crawford, who has been compiling this interesting list for the past eight years:
1. Oregon
2. Texas A&M
3. Alabama
4. Clemson
5. Georgia
6. LSU
7. Ohio State
8. Texas
9. Auburn
10. South Carolina
11. Northwestern
12. Arkansas
13. Florida
14. Oklahoma
15. Maryland
16. Michigan
17. Notre Dame
18. Oklahoma State
19. Tennessee
20. Kentucky
21. North Carolina
22. Illinois
23. Washington
24. Missouri
25. Ole Miss
While it's pretty surprising to not see Penn State ranked, it's even more shocking to see some of the programs on the list that spend tons and tons of money and yet have still struggled.
There is, as you can see, no program in the country that does less with more than Texas A&M. There's so much money floating around the Aggies program, yet the team went just 5-7 in 2022 under coach Jimbo Fisher.
Then there's Northwestern at No. 11. The school has spent a fortune upgrading its facilities to the point where they are elite. And yet the Wildcats went 1-11 last season and 3-9 in 2021 under Pat Fitzgerald.
As you can see, there are a bunch of highly successful programs that have tremendous facilities, so the commitment to facilities can indeed go hand in hand with on-field success in the right places.
OK, so what about Penn State?
I checked in with Crawford, and he noted Penn State came in at No. 27 on his list. I asked if he was taking into account the recent $48 million upgrade to the Lasch Building, and Crawford said yes.
So ... even with those upgrades, Penn State still didn't make the top 25.
All of this is why Franklin has spoken numerous times about the university having a full, 365-day commitment to making sure the football program is getting everything it needs to compete with the biggest and best programs in the country.
So, the big question: Is Penn State indeed getting everything it needs?
No.
Not when you consider the list above and how the Lions, who are a top 10 program on the field, are not, in fact, keeping up with the Joneses in some key ways off the field.
We had a tremendous discussion in the comments section over the weekend on my story about women's basketball finances and how that program loses millions of dollars at Penn State. Much of the discussion was about trying to justify spending any amount of money on women's basketball -- which is not at all successful -- instead of taking any and every single dollar and putting it to the best use, which would on football.
Clearly, given the 247Sports ranking above, Penn State still is just not doing enough or spending enough.
Now, can the Lions still win at a high level regardless of this kind of stuff? Absolutely. Spending tons of money doesn't guarantee success, and you can look at places like Texas A&M as proof.
But is sure can help to have a giant open wallet to use whenever needed.
