Penn State’s James Franklin is hands down a better coach than Jim Harbaugh
By Evan Smith
Head to Head
Saturday’s game is a rubber match, of sorts.
Franklin and Harbaugh are 3-3 against each other.
It can be argued the 2016 49-10 loss kept the Lions out of the College Football Playoff, but who can forget Michigan’s delay of game before the first play from scrimmage two years ago in whiteout conditions at Beaver Stadium?
The Lions are on a two-game winning streak in a rivalry that has featured its fair share of blow-outs.
Hard not to go with a draw here.
‘Rivalry Games’ in the Division
The Big Ten East is an insanely difficult division.
We all know to win the conference, you have to go through Ohio State. Michigan State is another team in the division that has a College Football Playoff appearance, with a second in its sights.
So, let’s look at the records of both coaches vs Michigan State and Ohio State
Harbaugh: 0-5 vs Ohio State, 3-4 vs Michigan State = 3-9 total
Franklin: 1-8 vs Ohio State, 3-5 vs Michigan State = 4-13 total
Neither has done very well against the other two schools in their own division. We’ll call this one a draw.
Conference Championships/College Football Playoff Berths
Harbaugh: zero conference championships, zero playoff berths
Franklin: one divisional championship, one conference championship, but zero playoff berths
Each likely have higher expectations than what they’ve achieved, but as the biggest difference in sports is between 0 and 1, this round clearly goes to Franklin.