James Franklin Is Getting Crushed After Penn State’s Loss Today
James Franklin #JamesFranklin
Eighth-ranked Penn State just lost 36-35 in overtime to Indiana in its season opener. James Franklin is drawing a ton of scrutiny in defeat.
Franklin’s game and clock management have come under fire in the past, and that’s what is being ridiculed tonight as well. It all started after Penn State, leading 21-20, forced Indiana to turn the ball over on downs with under two minutes remaining.
The Nittany Lions took over at the IU 14-yard line with 1:47 left and the Hoosiers holding only one timeout. Instead of kneeling the ball, Franklin elected to hand off to sophomore running back Devyn Ford.
Smartly, Indiana head coach Tom Allen directed his team to let any Penn State ball carrier score, which would enable his team to get the ball back. Ford, not realizing what was happening until it was too late, played right into this strategy.
By not kneeling or making sure Ford knew to go down and not score, Franklin committed a fatal error. He compounded that mistake by kicking the extra point to go up eight instead of going for two to try and go up by nine and make it a two-score game.
Indiana wound up getting the ball back and driving downfield and tying the game at 28. In overtime, IU surrendered a touchdown to the Nittany Lions, but scored on its possession and won the game on quarterback Michael Penix Jr.’s diving two-point conversion.
Not surprisingly, Franklin was getting skewered on Twitter after the game.
It is tough to say Franklin doesn’t deserve the bashing here. He mismanaged the end of regulation badly.
Now, not only did his team lose, but Penn State is 0-1 heading home to play Ohio State next weekend. An 0-2 start might very well be on the horizon.
The post James Franklin Is Getting Crushed After Penn State’s Loss Today appeared first on The Spun.