Penn St.’s Franklin hears boos: ‘Unsatisfactory’
- Tom VanHaaren, ESPN Personnel WriterNov 11, 2023, 05:25 PM ET Close ESPN
- personnel writer Joined ESPN in 2011
- Finished from Central Michigan
STATE COLLEGE, Pa.– Penn State coach James Franklin strolled off the field and down the tunnel inside Beaver Stadium on Saturday to fans calling for his task after a 24-15 loss to Michigan.The fans booed
throughout the game when Franklin ran the ball on third down, failing to get an initially down, and booed a loss that puts Franklin’s record as Penn State’s coach at 1-12 against Associated Press top-five challengers. It was the Nittany Lions’ 2nd loss of the season to a top-five challenger, the first can be found in a 20-12 defeat versus Ohio State, and Franklin is now 4-16 versus Ohio State and Michigan, which are No. 1 and No. 3, respectively, in the College Football Playoff rankings.
“We have actually lost to the No. 1 and the No. 3 team in the country. That’s not good enough; we got to find ways to win those games,” said Franklin, whose Nittany Lions are No. 10 in the CFP rankings. “However, address it, be sincere, be transparent, pursue it head on and after that carry on to the next opponent so we can find a way to get a win next week. And we’ll complete this thing in a favorable direction.”
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1 Associated In this game, the offense had a hard time to put points on the board and put up sufficient backyards to sustain drives throughout the game. Quarterback Drew Allar had just 70 backyards passing, finishing 45% of his attempts.Franklin acknowledged Michigan’s defense as one of the best in the nation but acknowledged that he and his personnel belonged to the offense’s battles.” We got to do a much better task of calling a game to allow
a quarterback to enter into rhythm. That is critical,”Franklin said. “We got to discover simple conclusions for a quarterback to enter rhythm, that’s what everyone does. We got to do a great task of that and after that on top of that, although there wasn’t sacks, there was too many pressures. And there was too many times where we’re not producing separation.”Allar blamed himself in part for the loss, instead of agreeing with
his coach about entering into a rhythm. His fumble in the third quarter, with his group down 14-9, was a crucial play that led to a Michigan field goal and the Wolverines constructing momentum toward their win.He likewise blamed himself for missing a toss to Penn State receiver Kaden Saunders in the fourth quarter that would have extended a drive and stated his play wasn’t good enough to win this game.”Simply carry out,”Allar said when asked what the team needs to do when the game is on the line.”I believe there was a couple times where we were in the right playcall and us as players, we just didn’t perform. So, I think we just require to do a better job overall, simply going out and carrying out whatever the coaches call.”The offense struggled to execute, however Michigan’s defense has actually been making it tough for offenses all season and it was no different in this game. Penn State scored on three of its 10 drives, converted three of 14 third downs and balanced 5.6 backyards on third down.Fans booed when Allar ran the ball on third-and-5 in the second quarter, only to disappoint the first-down marker. Franklin’s call once again drew ire when he decided to opt for a 2-point conversion after a goal in the second quarter, which fell incomplete and left ball game at 14-9 in Michigan’s favor.The group again opted for a 2-point conversion, and failed, in the fourth quarter, leaving the Nittany Lions down by 9, however Franklin stated those playcalls aligned with the analytics and safeguarded them as the
right employ those moments.”At some time you’re gon na need to be aggressive and you’re going to need to make one of those calls like we performed in the very first half,”Franklin said.” At some time, we can’t simply keep providing the ball back to Michigan.
It puts our defense in a difficult spot if we don’t select it up. But we’re going to need to get among those 3rd or 4th downs to remain on the field to provide us the best chance to win the game. “The loss put Penn State at 8-2 on the season and likely put the team’s hopes of a Huge Ten championship berth to rest. The team still has Rutgers and Michigan State on the schedule, however with its opportunities of a conference title and playoff berth dashed, Allar said the team needs to keep progressing and stay focused on winning the game in front of them.” A lot can take place in college football. So, we just need to stick together,”Allar stated.”Keep sticking together and just learn from it tomorrow, be really important of ourselves, gain from it, and after that just proceed. At this point, we simply got to get better this week in practice and simply play our hearts out.”