When a sports writer begins a write-up with a paean to the losing coach, you know what's coming. When two sports pencils do it independent of one another, well...
There’s so much to like about what James Franklin has done at Penn State. He’s rebuilt the program from the throes of NCAA probation, turned the Nittany Lions into a consistent College Football Playoff contender and brought a sense of football normalcy to a town and program that desperately needed it.
Franklin is one of the sport’s top-10 coaches...
(Pete Thamel, Yahoo)
James Franklin is a very good coach. He’s an excellent recruiter and talent developer.
...
Franklin has elevated Penn State. He has led the program back into the national conversation. It has won 11 games three of the previous four years.
(Zach Braziller NY Post)
I didn't pay any attention to this game Saturday night. Indiana beat PSU 36-35. Indiana's not bad. The game was in Bloomington. This is a weird year. So, I didn't know.
The Posties headline was no paean:
James Franklin’s maddening blunder costs Penn State again
What Did You Do James? Again.
Well, it seems PSU was up 21-20 with 1:46 left in the game, first down on the Indians 14 yard-line, holding three timeouts to UI's une. Now to us wet-behind-the-ears-in-the-cheap-seats types it might seem you take your time, mosey on up to the line of scrimmage, run three run plays against a desperate defense and if you score, fine, and if you don't, fine too, Indiana will have next to no time to go the length of the field to tie. AND if yinz are fortunate enough to score making the score 27-20 you eschew the auto extra-point with a two-point try which if successful would put you up 29-20, a two-possession game for Indiana and absolutely, positively put the last nail in the "Hoosiers" coffin.
UI head guy Tom Allen thought this all through. UPS football chair Deez Nutz did not. So on first-and-ten from the UI 14 Tom Allen had his defense stand up. Didn't defend. UPS QB Devyn Ford saw the green, green artificial turf of home and victory before him and burst through. Harkening momentarily to the wiser football angel on his shoulder young Devyn hesitated at the one yard-line-"Oh wait"-before carrying through his master's dictum and covering the last three feet to paydirt. 27-20 PSU.
James kicked the auto extra. 28-20.
andthenindianascoredandmadethetwopointconversion. And won it in OT.
"What we wanted to do is get as much as you can and get down," Deez-Nutz said after game. "That's that situation. We've covered it, we went through it during the game, but, again, it was a bunch of situations that came up."
Young Devyn Ford got as much as he could! He was "down", clock stopped, when he crossed the plane of the goal line. James fucked up. Take three knees in the protective "victory formation" and this class is over.
Football aficionados covered Deez-Nutz in something resembling chocolate.
Will Brinson@WillBrinson
Are people letting James Franklin off the hook at all here? That is the worst coaching decision of the last 10-15 years. He could have kneed out.
9:32 PM · Oct 24, 2020·Twitter for iPhone
