Can James Franklin finally win the hearts of Penn State fans?

… can he win a big one tonight?


To say that his first two years at Penn State have been challenging for James Franklin would be an understatement. The Penn State faithful turned on him during two consecutive 7-6 seasons in which some of his wins have come against cupcakes like Buffalo, San Diego State, Army, Akron, and UMass.

Franklin has yet to defeat any of the Big three in his section: Ohio State, Michigan, and Michigan State, and since his salary is in the top ten of coaches in the U.S., Nittany Lion fans had hoped for more.

Things were so bad earlier this year in a 49-10 pasting by Michigan that fans on a PSU blog were wondering what it would take to get Les Miles to Happy Valley.

They should give Franklin one more year ... and hope for at least eight wins this year.

After the Michigan debacle, the Lions won two straight, albeit against mediocre teams, an overtime win over Minnesota and a pasting of Maryland. That has led the Franklin haters to the bushes, figuring that maybe the PSU coach this year would pull off some major wins.

Now, Franklin has the chance to do that tonight. He had a shot at the Buckeyes in his first season after the Lions had charged from behind to tie OSU in regulation at 17-17.

That game was also one in which the team was hammered by the refs in Beaver Stadium. First, they gave an interception to Ohio State that had clearly bounced on the ground before the defender caught it. Since the replay was out, OSU got the ball and scored.

Then, the Buckeyes were given a field goal that was clearly kicked after the play clock had expired. Tens points after officials' gaffes.

Still, the game was tied after one OT, but PSU lost in the second one.

Fast forward to Oct. 22, 2016. Many PSU fans now believe that Franklin's team has a shot and taking down the Buckeyes, who were really unimpressive against a Wisconsin team that is probably overrated.

In fact, Ohio State is probably overrated, too.

So, a win tonight against the Buckeyes would paper over much of that damage that Franklin inflicted on himself and his program in the first two seasons.

Can that happen? Probably not since the Buckeyes have not lost very often to the Nittany Lions in the 2000s.

They could, however, be easily overlooking this game.

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