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Penn State football: Top-10 wins of the James Franklin Era

By Brad Weiss

STATE COLLEGE, PA - NOVEMBER 30: Head coach James Franklin of the Penn State Nittany Lions reacts to a play during the second half of the game between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Beaver Stadium on November 30, 2019 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
STATE COLLEGE, PA - NOVEMBER 30: Head coach James Franklin of the Penn State Nittany Lions reacts to a play during the second half of the game between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Beaver Stadium on November 30, 2019 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /
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Penn State football has had some big wins under James Franklin (Photo by Patrick Bolger/Getty Images)
Penn State football has had some big wins under James Franklin (Photo by Patrick Bolger/Getty Images) /

James Franklin has had his ups and downs as the head coach of the Penn State football program. Here are the top-10 wins of his time at the helm.

The Penn State football program has fallen on hard times in 2020, as they lost a ton of talent due to injuries and COVID-19, and got off to their worst start in school history at 0-5. On Saturday, the Nittany Lions got a much-needed win, and one could say that it was one of the more important wins of James Franklin’s run at the school.

With that said, here are the top-10 wins of the James Franklin era at Penn State.

Victory No. 1: Penn State vs. UCF in Dublin, Ireland

In his first game at the helm of the Penn State football program, James Franklin and the Nittany Lions headed to Ireland to take on UCF. Playing in the Croke Park Classic, Franklin rode the right arm of Christian Hackenberg, who threw for 454 yards, and the leg of Sam Ficken, who drilled the game-winning field goal with no time left on the clock.

Penn State showed incredible resilience in the game, as a Justin Holman touchdown run gave the Knights the lead with 1:13 left in the game. The win would kick-start a four-game win streak to start Franklin’s run at the school, but they would go on to lose four straight after that, including losses to Michigan and Ohio State.

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