Is James Franklin to blame for Penn State’s loss to Indiana? | Yahoo Sports College Podcast
Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel and Pete Thamel, and Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde discuss #8 Penn State’s shocking overtime loss to Indiana, and whether head coach James Franklin should be blamed for the loss.
Video Transcript
DAN WETZEL: Pete, I saw you write about obviously the failures of Penn State. Let's focus on that before we get to Indiana. Thoughts?
PETE THAMEL: I mean, people who listen to this podcast know we're going to focus on the negative aspect before the positive. So this is what they-- this is what they came for. So it was interesting going back to listen to James Franklin's comments after the game.
Because he didn't want to throw Devin Ford under the bus. But he also wants to make clear that the instruction was given on the sideline to do what he failed to do.
But you know, the fault here ultimately lies with James Franklin. Because they have to know, in no uncertain, terms that they cannot score. And give Tom Allen credit, it is against like generations of coaching DNA to let the other team score.
especially for a defensive coach. That is a very-- that's an easy thing to sit around the staff room in May and bring in the analytics guy, and decide to do. It's a much more difficult thing standing on the sideline when you had Penn State on the ropes all day, and you know, could have one of the biggest wins in school history, to say yeah.
Let's let them score. So ton of credit to Tom Allen for making one of the season's best coaching decisions, and a lot of-- it James Franklin, and I know Pat can talk about this, too.
Like, James Franklin has never been a great game manager. He's never been a good timeout guy. He's never been a good clock guy. He just hasn't.
He hasn't. He wasn't at Vanderbilt. He hasn't been, especially in the early years at Penn State. And you know, is it the point where they need a designated guy? They need a retired-- they need someone to be helping him with that.
Because that just-- look, you're paid seven, eight million bucks a year for these 12 Saturdays. And James Franklin does a lot of things really, really, well. He's one of the best coaches in college football. But this failure magnifies his past failures.
PAT FORDE: And that's where we are in college football, though. We're he's getting $5.65 million. But you got-- you got to pay somebody else to take care of that fundamental thing for him. Whatever.
This was-- you know, come on. Yeah, you can fit that under the umbrella of $5.65 million job responsibilities, in my opinion. No time, no score.
But this, I mean, it was-- it was astounding watching it-- when they-- when he broke into the clear on the play. I immediately said, oh they're letting him score. And then, yes. As he gets to the goal line, he actually-- he steps one foot over, and then actually comes back.
And it's like no, once you've gone that far, there is no returning, sir. And then he realized that, and he's like oh, man. I screwed up. Boy, did he. But you know, Pete as you said, it does go against the coaching grain to tell your team just get out of the way and let them score.
But that was the only play. That was certainly-- that was the best play to make at that point. And even though they could not have run out the clock, if you take-- you know, if you take three knees and kick a field goal, you're going to give them 20 seconds to then have to score a touchdown.
So even if you don't run it all the way out, I would have been in favor of just doing that, taking three knees, centering the ball. So I mean, there was so much stuff that happened in this game, it's incredible.
Dan, to your point about Indiana, look in 1987, the last time they beat a top 10 team, I was just out of college and I was working at the "Courier Journal" in Louisville. And we covered Indiana football, had somebody lived in Bloomington, covered football and basketball.
And they had Anthony Thompson on that team. And they were very good. And I get there like oh, Indiana is pretty good. Who knew? 33 years later, we'd finally be seeing them win another big game.
DAN WETZEL: I was hoping you were at the game, Pat. That would've made me happy.
[LAUGHTER]
PAT FORDE: Oh, no. But the litany of games like this that they have lost, and the ways that they have lost it is just endless. And so for them to end up on the other side of it, hey good for Indiana.
DAN WETZEL: Yeah this one really hurts for Penn State. I'll get right to Indiana. Because it is a great win for them. James Franklin, I think I saw someone mention this, and it made sense to me. He is clearly one of the best coaches in the country.
I mean, what he did at Vanderbilt, and what he's done at Penn State, especially considering the state of the program he took over in '14. Time kind of changes that. But this is a program that should be in contention for, you know, national-- the playoffs. I mean, there's nothing Penn State needs more that it should contain. And it has not yet contended.
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