James Franklin’s biggest roster move of the season paid off huge in overtime
By Josh Yourish
There are plenty of reasons to criticize Penn State’s 11th-year head coach, James Franklin, but he has not been complacent when it comes to addressing problems on his roster and making changes to the depth chart. In No. 4 Penn State’s 33-30 overtime win at USC in Week 7, that ruthlessness paid off hugely with a rare big-game win for Franklin.
After starting kicker, Sander Sahaydak began the season two for five on field goal attempts, with two misses against Illinois in Week 5, Franklin decided to cut bait with the junior and instead handed the starting job to former walk-on redshirt freshman Ryan Barker. Since taking over the job, Barker is 6-6 on field goals, 8-8 on extra points, and hit the biggest kick of his life a 36-yard game-winning in overtime.
In his postgame interview, CBS sideline reporter Jenny Dell asked Franklin how much confidence he had in Barker. The relieved head coach of a 6-0 team said emphatically, “A ton.”
As Franklin was answering the question, Barker was heading in his direction, to be interviewed by Dell directly after. Franklin stopped the interview to give his redshirt freshman a hug and presumably share a few nice words with the player who may have saved his season and College Football Playoff hopes.
Franklin has yet to take Penn State to the CFP, despite being arguably one of the most successful programs of the CFP era. This season, with the expanded playoff and expanded Big Ten giving the Nittany Lions a fortunate schedule that didn't include the Michigan Wolverines, is the best chance and most pressure that Franklin has ever. That may have informed his ruthless mentality with Sahaydak, who didn’t even travel with the team to LA after being demoted to third-string kicker behind Barker and Tulsa transfer Chase Meyer.
It may have seemed like an obvious move to bench a kicker who couldn’t make a kick, but not every coach would have done it so quickly, especially with an undefeated record. Franklin was nearly under fire for coming up small in a big game again, but this time around, it was one of his own coaching decisions that ensured a Penn State victory.
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