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

By Brad Weiss | Dec 1, 2020

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’s first Big Ten championship since 2008 (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

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

Penn State wins Big Ten title over Wisconsin

Going into their Big Ten title game matchup against Wisconsin, the Penn State football program had not won a conference title since 2008. Since that last title, the program had gone through some very low points, including being given a near-death sentence due to the horrific scandal that rocked Happy Valley.

The 2016 season was a chance for the program to get back to the top of the mountain in one of the toughest conferences in all of college football, and they did just that. Penn State got to the title game thanks to a tiebreaker over Ohio State, who had the same conference record but were beaten by the Nittany Lions earlier in the year.

The Nittany Lions went into the fourth quarter trailing, but an early touchdown run by star running back Saquon Barkley with a little under 14 minutes left in the final frame gave Penn State the lead for good. A 24-yard field goal by Tyler Davis with a little over five minutes left gave the Nittany Lions a 38-31 lead they would not surrender, and with the win, they went to face USC in the Rose Bowl.

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