James Franklin puts Mike Locksley in his place over last-second touchdown and postgame confrontation

Backup quarterback Beau Pribula threw a 15-yard touchdown to true freshman wide receiver Tyseer Denmark on the final play of Penn State’s 44-7 Week 14 win over Maryland, and Maryland head coach Mike Locksley was not happy about it. Locksley called the Nittany Lion’s late-game aggressiveness “bullshit” postgame after a confrontation at midfield with James Franklin. 

In his postgame presser, Franklin didn’t back down. Now in his 11th year at Penn State, Franklin was once the presumed head coach in waiting at Maryland when he was the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator from 2008-2010, before leaving to take over Vanderbilt in 2011. Judging by the routinely lopsided final scores, he still has plenty of animosity against the program. 

Franklin was fiery in his defense of his team and his decision to play for a late touchdown, and he was right to defend it. Players can play four games in the regular season while preserving a redshirt season. Denmark is one of those players who appeared in his fourth game of the year against Maryland, and with an underwhelming group of wide receivers, he’ll likely be an important piece of the program going forward. Saturday was one of Denmark’s few opportunities to see live-action, and the same goes for most of the players that were on the field for Penn State that late in the game. 

One of Franklin’s most difficult balancing acts of the entire season has been with redshirt sophomore backup QB Beau Pribula. Drew Allar will either leave for the NFL this offseason or next, and Franklin needs to keep Pribula on the roster and out of the transfer portal. The best way to do that is to give him as many reps as possible once Allar is done, and to let him actually play, not kneel the game out. 

Franklin is using those late-game drives to evaluate Pribula in live reps and ensure he’s the best option as Allar’s successor for either one or two years, to keep Pribula happy enough to stay in Happy Valley, and to keep him ready if Allar gets hurt in the Big Ten Championship Game or the College Football Playoff. Locksley on the other hand is just hoping to get to the finish line of a disastrous 4-8 season. And he was doing it with his starters still on the field.