James Franklin being undone at Penn State Football by his own doing
Penn State Football was stunned this past Saturday by Illinois at Beaver Stadium in overtime, leading to more questions than answers about the future of the program and the tenure of head coach James Franklin
Penn State Football head coach James Franklin’s name being brought up whenever a big-time job opens up is nothing new in Happy Valley, however, it feels different this time around.
All the little things that would normally be easily dismissed are starting to add up, mixed with his stubborn inability to flat out say ‘I am not going anywhere,’ and these rumors are only going to get louder for the eighth-year head coach.
Losing on the field will do Franklin no favors either, as the Nittany Lions are set to travel to Columbus this week as an 18.5 point underdog to the No. 5 ranked Buckeyes, and with a likely hobbled Sean Clifford it is fair to wonder just how close Penn State Football can keep this one Saturday night.
As rumors of Franklin being tied to LSU and USC swirl about, Franklin looked flustered at his press conference Tuesday afternoon, referring to staying focused on this week’s game with Illinois twice, while also saying he’s looking forward to playing at the “Big House” this weekend, when Ohio State plays at the Horseshoe, of course, the Big House is Michigan’s home stadium.
After the Nittany Lions’ loss to Illinois, it is becoming a common theme on social media amongst Penn State Football Fans to ridicule the head coach, “I’ll drive him to the airport myself” becoming a rallying cry of sorts for unhappy fans.
And fans have every right to be upset losing to Illinois, a team Penn State was a 24-point favorite over, coming off a bye week, a week before a potential top ten showdown with Ohio State.
However, not every loss needs to be a referendum on a program or a head coach’s body of work.
Penn State Football is not the first, and won’t be the last to be upset as a heavy favorite. That is what we all love about college football.
Context matters.
Having a hobbled quarterback, and losing a captain in the middle of the defensive line matters.
They are not excuses to lose the game, however as low as it feels right now, it has been and can absolutely be worse, and it can happen in a hurry … just ask Texas.
The fact of the matter is James Franklin is being undone right now by the expectations he created.
Franklin’s success has elevated the program to a point where he has failed to bring Penn State Football back to heights he previously lifted it to. Failing to meet expectations of the fan base that he himself created for them.
Here’s a look at Penn State’s past before James Franklin’s arrival, his impact, and what a departure might mean for the program
Penn State Football was comfortable just playing on New Year’s Day
In 2016 James Franklin brought this program back to national prominence, when he captured the Big Ten title, defeated Ohio State, and earned the Nittany Lions a trip to the Rose Bowl.
In 2017, Penn State had its first dose of national expectations during Franklin’s tenure, ranked top-ten in the preseason, and ultimately fell short of those expectations with a gut-wrenching loss to Ohio State followed up by a loss to Michigan State.
The 2018 and 2019 seasons were much more of the same, with seasons that got off to very promising starts that ultimately were derailed by losses to Ohio State and others.
Despite those gut-wrenching or head-scratching losses, Penn State Football managed to win the Fiesta Bowl in 2017, the Cotton Bowl in 2019 and lost the Citrus Bowl in 2018, not qualifying for a New Year’s Six Bowl due to conference tie-ins and a silly rule they could not go back to the same bowl game in consecutive years (Fiesta Bowl).
That made for three New Year’s Six bowl appearances in four years, with two victories to go along with three top-ten finishes.
At this point, the only thing Franklin has yet to accomplish was qualifying for the College Football Playoff.
Because of NCAA imposed sanctions in the fallout of the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal, the years immediately prior to Franklin becoming the head coach are off-limits for this exercise.
But, if you take a trip down memory lane and take a look at the four years prior to the Sandusky scandal, Penn State Football was very happy to appear in the Outback Bowl.
From 2007 to 2010, the Nittany Lions appeared in the Alamo Bowl, Capital One Bowl, the Rose Bowl in which they were embarrassed by USC, and the Outback Bowl.
In 2010, somehow a 7-5 Penn State Football team found its way into the Outback Bowl only to lose by double digits to an Urban Meyer-led Florida.
In those four years, the Lions went 1-3 against Ohio State, consistently losing the biggest games on their schedule, including a trip to Iowa in 2008 that ruined a chance at a trip to the National Championship game.
These years prior to the scandal and prior to Franklin’s arrival are significant now that we see Franklin being criticized for his inability to win big games, an inability to get this program “over the hump” and into the Playoff, and ultimately to become a national title contender year in and year out.
Yet, ask yourself, when is the last time Penn State Football was truly a yearly national title contender? The 80’s under Joe Paterno?
Franklin has brought this program to new heights, maintained a new level of consistency, surely he has had some head-scratching losses to inferior opponents. However, it is easy to see the irony in being angry with a head coach for not achieving the goals that only he made achievable in the first place.