Etched on the doors of Penn State’s newly renovated and expanded weight room is a message. In bold font next to the Penn State logo, the phrase should catch the eyes of the hundreds of recruits who pass through these doors in the coming months.

It reads: “You are now entering the most competitive environment in all of college football.”

“We have a new nutrition center that’s open, a new player development lounge that’s open, so it helps us tremendously in recruiting,” said Terry Smith, Penn State’s cornerbacks coach and defensive recruiting coordinator. “We built last and the last team that builds has the best facility — until the next team builds.”

The strength training that happens behind these doors coupled with what transpires on the adjacent practice field and in the meeting rooms above is where James Franklin’s team will continue trying to crack into the upper echelon of college football. It’s the destination the head coach spoke of elevating this program to four years ago when, minutes after losing to Ohio State by one point for the second consecutive season, he stressed that Penn State was “not an elite team yet.”

“The work that it’s going to take to get to an elite program is going to be just as hard as the ground and the distance that we’ve already traveled to get there,” Franklin said in 2018. “We are going to break through and become an elite program.”

Including that loss, Penn State has gone 33-18 since then, though it enters Saturday’s game against the No. 2 Buckeyes with a 6-1 record. Franklin signed a 10-year contract last November worth $7.5 million per year, plus incentives and a $1 million annual life insurance loan.

Within the past six months, Penn State’s power structure shifted with the hiring of new university president Neeli Bendapudi and athletic director Pat Kraft. Franklin has put Penn State’s facilities front and center during this timeframe too. He was asked by a fan Thursday night during his weekly radio show what Penn State needs to do to beat Ohio State and other “elite Big Ten teams.” Franklin’s answer had nothing to do with what 107,000-plus people will see inside Beaver Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Franklin said that for the first time during his tenure at Penn State, he feels that there’s alignment between himself, the athletic director and the university president. This was after he criticized Penn State for not being “bold and aggressive” and capitalizing on momentum after it beat Ohio State in 2016 en route to winning the Big Ten championship. That comment was likely tied to his desire for Penn State to push the envelope more in the year-round arms race that includes facilities.

“The more wins that we can get in the offseason, the better chance we’re going to be able to do it on Saturdays because the margin of error is so small,” Franklin said Thursday night. “I think you’re going to be happy with the results you see moving forward.”