James Franklin’s come-uppance: Penn State fans “love” him, but think that he is overrated as a game coach

… great recruiter, mediocre coach

“It seemed a cruel prank that McSorley ran for 175 yards and threw for 286, amassing the greatest total-offense figure (461) in Penn State history (surpassing Christian Hackenberg in the Ireland game against Central Florida), all in front of a record crowd of 110,889.”

— David Jones, the Patriot-News

He is being hammered online after his fourth-down call with the clock winding down in a major battle against the nefarious Ohio State Buckeyes. However, is James Franklin being tarnished unfairly by Penn State fans?

The question was punctuated by an encounter with a fan that Franklin had when he was leaving the field at Beaver Stadium after his second consecutive one-point loss to the Buckeyes.

But, the play that outraged Penn State football fans was one in which Franklin did not allow McSorley to carry the ball or to throw the ball on a fourth-and-5 from the Ohio State 42 with two minutes left.

Franklin burned a timeout, the so did OSU’s ethically-challenged mentor, Urban Meyer. Finally, after all that, McSorley inexplicably handed the ball off to a running back despite the fact that the other runners for Penn State who carried the ball besides McSorley averaged just 1.6 yards per carry.

In short, the fans were outraged that the guy who accounted for 461 yards that night did not touch the ball with the game on the line.

This loss was more difficult for Penn State fans to accept because they had outplayed the Buckeyes, who have to be the most overrated team in the country. They really stunk up the place in the first half before putting together a scoring drive at the end of the first half.

Bellichick belief

In analyzing the call, USA Today went back to a quote from Patriots coach Bill Bellichick to explain why the call was so outrageous.

“In critical situations, I would much rather go to our best players rather than to run a certain play against a certain scheme,” says Belichick. “To me, in the end, I want to give our best players — our toughest, smartest most dependable players — an opportunity to win the game.”

Franklin was defensive about the call

This is the second consecutive year in which the Buckeyes charged from behind to win the football game. Last year, the Nittany Lions had a 28-10 first-half advantage and s 35-20 advantage going into the fourth quarter before succumbing, 39-38, in the final minutes.

However, last year, the Buckeyes thoroughly dominated the second half, eventually building a 529-283 advantage in total yards in the game. This year, the Lions dominated the game, holding a 12-point advantage — though failing on a 2-point conversion attempt that would have won the game — in the fourth quarter.

McSorley compiled a 145.7 QB rating for the game, and the Lions had a 492-389 advantage in total yardage, which is why Franklin realizes that he should have won the game.

On his way off the field, a Penn State student confronted Franklin about the call.

"Fourth-and-5, you should have passed it, Coach. That was a bad call," the fan said.

"I appreciate your input," Franklin yelled back.

"I love you, but that's a bad call," the fan continued, as which point Franklin appeared to have to be restrained.”

— Tribune-Review

He later apologized for his actions, but he was still defensive about everything, rationalizing things.

Rationalization

In the post-game press conference, Franklin acknowledged the mistake. “Obviously, we should've called something different right there. They changed the look, so we called timeout. And then, we didn't make the right call in that situation. That's on me, nobody else."

That was good. Confession is good for the soul, Mark Twain said, though he never knew anything about football — but he knew a great deal about life.

However, he gave himself and his staff a pat on the back first. "The reality is that we've gone from an average football team to a good football team to a great football team. We have worked hard to do those things but we are not an elite football team yet … And the work it's going to take to get to an elite program, it's going to be just as hard as the ground and the distance that we've already traveled. We are going to scratch and claw and fight.

"Right now, we're comfortable being great. I'm going to make sure that everyone in our program, including myself, is very uncomfortable. Because you only grow in life when you are uncomfortable.

"And don't get me wrong, we are a great football team. But we were just beaten by an elite team. Lose by one point last year. Lose by one point this year. You make that up by all the little things."

"We are going to find a way to get from being a great program -- which we are, just so everyone is clear -- to be an elite program … We've been knocking at the door long enough. It's my responsibility, no one else. And we are going to find a way to take the next step. We are going to get this done. We're done being great."

Is he right?

Ohio State not elite, Penn State not great

First, let us get to terminology. Two years ago, Ohio State made the college football elite championship where they were thoroughly decimated by Clemson, 30-0. They were not elite then.

Last year, no Big Ten team made the playoffs because they do not play any quality teams outside of the conference. Well, as a whole they do not. The Buckeyes did play one quality team, Oklahoma, and lost. Consequently, the committee correctly decided that the conference did not have any elite teams.

On Saturday night, Ohio State was not an elite team. They might have been able to make that argument last year after posting more than 500 yards of offense.

Not now. No Big Ten team is elite, and Penn State is not great.

A great team does not allow anyone to come back in the final eight minutes of the game after being down by two touchdowns. Sorry, James.

Was this Franklin’s fault -- or his OC?

Franklin took the blame, but the call likely came from his offensive coordinator. He has a new coordinator since the previous one has departed for Mississippi State [and has his own problems, one TD in last right quarters].

However, he is right. The head coach takes the blame, and he could have input on any decision. So, the choice belonged to Ricky Rahne.

Understand a little about Rahne, who is also the QB coach. “Following coach James Franklin [from Vanderbilt], Rahne spent the 2014 and 2015 seasons as the Penn State Nittany Lions quarterbacks coach. Working with quarterback Christian Hackenberg, Rahne helped him break all of the Nittany Lions major career passing records.”

Well, that needs some more of an explanation.

Ricky Rahne ruined Hackenburg

Here is how I would detail his work with Hackenburg. He took the top-ranked high school quarterback in the country, one who became the 2013 Big Ten Football Freshman of the Year as a true freshman under Coach Bill O’Brien, who knew a thing or two about developing top QBs. At that point, NFL prognosticators were calling him a sure bet for NFL stardom.

After O’Brien left, he tried to change Hackenberg’s delivery and footwork. As a result, he dropped from being one of the most promising QBs in the country to one who constantly struggled during the Franklin/Rahne regime.

Don’t be surprised if this is not the last time that Franklin is confronted with controversy because of his OC’s calls. He is just not very good, McSorley notwithstanding. He did not change anything there, fortunately, so the PSU QB is doing well.

However, even with Morehead, there were calls last year for improved play-calling after many Penn State fans complained that Franklin’s play-calling became too conservative in the second half against the Buckeyes.

What goes around, comes around

Does Franklin deserve credit for taking the program from a ragged aggregation to one that is in the Top Ten of college football? Yes, he does. However, he is constantly trying to dispel the notion that he is a great recruiter but a mediocre coach.

However, what he is now lacking is respect — of his peers. When he was named as the most overrated coach in college football earlier this year, and despite some questions about the quality of the polling sample, it was a knock on him from his fellow coaches. He is not regarded very highly by his Big Ten colleagues, who look upon him as more of a self-promoter than a true coach.

Regardless of the problem, he has lost the respect of many people along the line, including some Penn State faithful who are beginning to question his ability in big games.

Then, when he ran up the score again Pitt (21 of 51 points in the fourth quarter) and then Illinois (35 of 63 points were in the fourth quarter), his reputation further suffers.

So, when things like this happen, no one feels sorry for him. That is unfortunate since he had the potential to be a great college coach, but his ego and arrogance are now hurting his reputation.

Note, I used the past tense when I said a great coach. He is a great recruiter, just an okay coach. When he has better personnel, he will beat you. When it is close, then he will struggle.