Penn State’s James Franklin might have been at his best at Minnesota [opinion]

James Franklin has taken deserved criticism for some of Penn State’s late-game failures during his tenure.

As recently as a 20-13 loss to Ohio State earlier this month, some of Franklin’s decisions have ranged from curious to puzzling to bonkers.

But not all of Franklin’s late-game decisions have made Nittany Lions fans wince or scream.

He has performed brilliantly in several late-game situations that have resulted in wins, as hard as that is to believe for some.

He might have been at his best Saturday evening at Minnesota.

Penn State converted on three fourth-and-1s in the final six minutes, including a fake punt, and held on to edge the Golden Gophers 26-25 at Huntington Bank Stadium.

It took smarts and guts to make those calls with a College Football Playoff berth possibly at stake.

“That’s a heck of a call by James, a heck of a call,” Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck said about the fake punt. “They had a really good scheme, called it up and got it.”

The Gophers used a field goal to cut Penn State’s lead to 26-25 with 5:48 left. With three timeouts and the two-minute warning, Fleck figured they’d get the ball back and have a chance to win it.

He was wrong.

Penn State converted the first fourth down when freshman tight end Luke Reynolds rambled 32 yards on the fake punt to the Minnesota 34, which surprised the Gophers and many of the Lions.

“To be quite honest with you, I had no idea they called it,” center Nick Dawkins said.

The second conversion came from the Minnesota 25. Instead of Franklin sending in kicker Ryan Barker to try a 42-yard field goal, Drew Allar picked up 2 yards on a quarterback sneak at the two-minute warning.

“We always appreciate Coach Franklin’s confidence in us,” Dawkins said, “but we also have confidence in ourselves.”

The third one came after the Gophers had run out of…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/penn-state-james-franklin-might-044600283.html

Author : Reading Eagle, Pa.

Publish date : 2024-11-25 04:46:00

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