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Every Thanksgiving week, Penn State football coach James Franklin turns the table on beat writers and asks them their preferences for their holiday dinners.
After Franklin hears their answers, the writers ask their prepared questions.
Naturally, one writer asked Monday about the fake punt the Nittany Lions used successfully in the fourth quarter of their 26-25 win at Minnesota last weekend. He asked if Franklin thought about the potential fallout if the call had failed.
“If it didn’t work, you wouldn’t be having fun with me talking about fried or roasted turkey,” Franklin said. “You’d be roasting James Franklin and I totally get that.”
He and the fourth-ranked Lions are thankful the fake worked and that it helped them close in on a spot in the College Football Playoff.
Penn State (7-1 Big Ten, 10-1) can seal a CFP berth by beating 25-point underdog Maryland (1-7, 4-7) on Senior Day Saturday at 3:30 (TV-BTN) at Beaver Stadium.
The Lions also can gain a berth in the Big Ten championship game against Oregon Dec. 7 in Indianapolis with some help.
If Ohio State loses to Michigan and Indiana falls to Purdue, Penn State would finish alone in second place. If the Hoosiers win and the Buckeyes lose, the Lions would tie Indiana and reach the title game on a tiebreaker, highest cumulative conference winning percentage of all conference opponents.
“To be honest with you, I haven’t spent a whole lot of time thinking about that,” Franklin said. “I’m completely focused on the Terps. After that game, there are a lot of other things that have to happen, but that is a possibility.
“We want an opportunity to compete as many times as we possibly can. If that includes a conference championship game, we would be very, very excited about that opportunity.”
If the Lions win and don’t make the Big Ten title game, they…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/franklin-penn-state-thankful-heroics-044600237.html
Author : Reading Eagle, Pa.
Publish date : 2024-11-26 04:46:00
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