Penn State Football: 5 Changes James Franklin must make to turn program around

Aggressive In-Game Coaching

James Franklin has often been criticized for his in-game decision-making.

It’s been Franklins kryptonite his entire head coaching career. From most fans’ perspectives, he makes the wrong decision more times than not.

Penn State Football under Franklin also struggles to finish off games.

While leading, they tend to get very conservative. Almost, trying not to lose the game instead of trying to win. This philosophy has driven fans crazy, even during the good seasons.

Leads were squandered in several games this season. They all had a common theme of the play calling becoming conservative. Games against Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, and Michigan State featured Penn State giving up a second-half lead. Now, you’re never going to hold every second-half lead. But they all can be attributed to not staying aggressive.

How many times have we seen the Nittany Lions run up the middle on a fourth and short and come up without the conversion?

How many times on fourth down have we seen a receiver drop a pass or be off target?

These head-scratching decisions often come down to execution rather than the actual play call.

Now, the execution is also on Franklin. But this last season, Franklin really did make strides on his fourth-down decisions. Any fan watching had to notice that Franklin was drastically more aggressive going for it on fourth down.

The next evolution in James Franklin’s career has to include staying aggressive all game. You can’t lose a game if you keep moving the chains and scoring. You can lose a game by handing it off three times and punting back to the opposition.