There’s no sugarcoating it: As Penn State‘s coach, James Franklin owns an abysmal 4-19 file towards opponents ranked within the Associated Press high 10 — and is simply 3-10 in such video games when his staff can be within the high 10.
It’s a mark that noticed a small however vital increase with Penn State’s resounding 31-14 College Football Playoff quarterfinal win towards No. 8-ranked Boise State within the Fiesta Bowl, however with every step ahead within the CFP bracket comes a better alternative — and louder doubters about Franklin’s skill to beat the most effective.
As the Big Ten runner-up and No. 6 seed within the College Football Playoff, the narrative surrounding Penn State was that they’d arguably the simplest path to the nationwide title — a house recreation towards overmatched No. 11 seed SMU, adopted by a matchup towards Mountain West Conference champion and No. 3 seed Boise State. The Nittany Lions outscored their first two playoff opponents by a mixed 69-24.
Now Franklin is 2 wins away from the varsity’s first nationwide championship because the 1986 season, however as a way to win it, he has to do one thing that has eluded him throughout most of his profession: beat a top-5 staff. He is 1-14 at Penn State towards AP top-5 groups, with the lone win coming in 2016 towards No. 2 Ohio State. By comparability, former coach Nick Saban (24-11 at Alabama), former coach Urban Meyer (6-2 at Ohio State) and Georgia coach Kirby Smart (11-7) all have profitable information towards AP top-5 opponents, in line with ESPN Research. Ohio State coach Ryan Day, although, is 5-6 towards them, and former Penn State coach Joe Paterno was 3-12 in his first 15 video games towards AP top-5 groups at Penn State.
Franklin can be 0-5 towards groups ranked within the high 5 by the CFP choice committee, and he has misplaced these video games by a mean of 20.4 factors in line with ESPN Research. The Nittany Lions will face Notre Dame (No. 3 AP/No. 5 CFP) on Thursday in a College Football Playoff semifinal on the Capital One Orange Bowl (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) in what’s undoubtedly the largest recreation of Franklin’s profession.
Franklin “understands” fans’ frustration. He declined to remark for this story however stated this following a 20-13 loss to No. 4 Ohio State on Nov. 2: “Nobody is wanting within the mirror tougher than I’m. I’ve stated this earlier than, however 99% of the packages throughout faculty soccer would die to do what we have been in a position to do in our time right here.”
Despite his struggles towards high groups, Franklin enters the Orange Bowl with a file of 101-41 and is 64-33 within the Big Ten over the previous decade in State College. That contains 5 top-10 finishes, a Big Ten title (2016) and common appearances in New Year’s Six bowl video games. Under Franklin, Penn State joins Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State as the one packages which have ranked within the choice committee’s ultimate high 12 a minimum of seven of the previous 9 seasons.
He has six years left on his contract and the assist of his administration.
“I’m not going to present credence to the criticism, as a result of I see it otherwise,” stated Penn State athletic director Patrick Kraft, who was employed at Penn State on July 1, 2022, after serving two years because the athletic director at Boston College. “When I acquired right here, I used to be actually shocked the place simply the infrastructure and the way every thing was arrange, how behind we actually had been. Yes, wins and losses are what we’re all judged on, however I’ll inform you, the tradition of that constructing and the younger males he brings in and graduates are second to none.
“You do not see backstage as a fan or simply somebody watching,” Kraft stated, “and while you get backstage, the factor that oozes out for me is tradition and household. That’s actually the way it’s constructed, however the infrastructure behind it wasn’t matching that tradition and we nonetheless have a methods to go. So sure, we wish to win each single recreation — that is the expectation for each program, however to see what he has achieved and that consistency is what’s exceptional to me.”
As a former Big Ten head coach who spent seven seasons main Indiana, first-year Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Allen has studied the Nittany Lions from the within out. He has game-planned towards Franklin, and now he is making an attempt to assist Franklin win his first nationwide title. Allen heard Franklin’s critics when he was at Indiana, and he has heard them once more as a member of Franklin’s employees.
“Now that I’m right here and I see the behind-the-scenes and the day-to-day and see how a lot of a bulldog he’s — that is the phrase I exploit — he is a bulldog for the small print and the little issues and simply being on high of every thing,” Allen stated. “To me, these criticisms, they don’t seem to be truthful, however till you win these massive video games, they’ll be there. And I feel all of us as coaches perceive that.”
What Franklin has achieved up to now is commonly overshadowed by what he hasn’t. According to ESPN Research, when Franklin received his one centesimal recreation at Penn State within the first spherical towards SMU, he grew to become the fourth FBS coach to win 100 video games at a single faculty since he headed to State College in 2014. The profession milestone put him in elite firm, becoming a member of Dabo Swinney at Clemson (129 since 2014), Nick Saban at Alabama (127 from 2014-23) and Kirby Smart at Georgia (105 since 2016).
There’s one factor separating Franklin from the remainder of the group, although — a number of nationwide titles.
“We do not run away from the expectation,” Kraft stated. “Being the pinnacle coach of Penn State, there’s a lot scrutiny on him and he handles it very well internally. He and I are companions on this.”
One present Big Ten head coach stated the expectations of Franklin ought to mirror the assets he has to work with.
“Ryan Day has been in championships, Clemson has been in championships, Bama has received them, Michigan has received them,” he stated. “If the Penn State expectation is they need to have a minimum of performed for championships in 10 years of his tenure, then no, he is not profitable, proper? If their expectation is, ‘Hey, we solely have resourced him to be a 10-win staff, Jan. 1 bowl staff, proper on the backside of the blue bloods from a useful resource standpoint — which I do not know — then yeah, he matches the expectations of a 10-win man. If you are a blue blood, are you being resourced like Clemson, like Michigan, like Ohio State, just like the folks we’re evaluating them to, as a result of it isn’t truthful to have that expectation if he hasn’t had the assets.”
Kraft stated a lot of Penn State’s progress underneath Franklin has come behind the scenes with issues like working to construct the price range for NIL, salaries for assistant coaches, stadium renovations and enhancements for Penn State’s student-athletes in all sports activities in areas resembling psychological well being, vitamin and journey — all issues that in the end contribute to profitable a nationwide title however occur off the sphere.
“You should construct the infrastructure in-house,” Kraft stated. “That is what I feel has actually improved is permitting him — and all of our sports activities — to go and do the issues they should do internally to get to the championship stage.”
A second Big Ten head coach stated probably the most noticeable enhancements with Penn State and Franklin this yr are twofold: the rent of two confirmed coordinators in Allen and offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, and Franklin’s general progress as a head coach in sure conditions.
“James has surrounded himself, for my part, with perhaps the most effective coordinator combo in our league,” the supply stated. “Now James has been in a position to handle video games and do the issues he is good at for the primary time. He’s at a distinct stage as a head coach.
“I get it, I get the narrative,” the coach stated, “however that is most likely primarily based on extra of the previous than the current. Even him having a greater understanding of how you have to use your gamers. He’s been at Penn State so lengthy, he is at all times been the favourite, so when he will get in these video games the place he is the underdog, you have to not solely play completely different, you have to strategize completely different. And when he ran that pretend punt towards Minnesota … I do not assume he is ever had to try this earlier than, and he is sort of realizing, that is what I’ve acquired to do to win this recreation. I am unable to simply win it on my expertise alone. And there is a studying curve for that.”
Kotelnicki stated Franklin does not get sufficient credit score for being as constantly good as he has. From 2016 to 2019, Franklin led Penn State to 42 wins, probably the most in program historical past for the Big Ten period, and a school-record 28 convention wins.
“It’s actually onerous to win, and to do it over a decade like he has as a head soccer coach right here, it is actually onerous,” Kotelnicki stated within the Nittany Lions’ locker room following their win towards Boise State. “I’ve had the chance in my life to work with some fairly good head coaches. He’s in elite firm for positive. So I do not know if [beating Boise State] goes to silence the critics — most likely not. … But I hope it does [calm down] just a little bit for his sake. He deserves just a little, ‘All proper, OK, I assume he is OK.'”
Penn State’s protection was greater than OK within the Fiesta Bowl win towards Boise State, and it must play at a championship-caliber stage for Franklin to enhance his file and advance towards the Irish. According to ESPN Research, the protection is on the coronary heart of Penn State’s drawback in earlier top-10 matchups. The Nittany Lions have allowed 31 factors per recreation in these matchups and 422 complete yards. The protection has additionally allowed 190 dashing yards per recreation underneath Franklin in top-10 matchups.
Against Boise State and Ashton Jeanty, the Heisman runner-up was held to a season-low 104 dashing yards. That development might want to proceed: Notre Dame has relied on its operating recreation this season, rating within the high 5 in yards per rush and dashing touchdowns.
Penn State will probably be taking part in its third AP top-5 matchup of the season, dropping the earlier two video games towards Ohio State and Oregon. The program’s woes run deeper than Franklin, too: The Nittany Lions have not received a top-five matchup since 1999 towards No. 4 Arizona.
“You simply should do an amazing job of blocking that out, but additionally not being afraid to dig and discover methods to create change,” Allen stated. “That’s what I see him doing, is, ‘Hey, what can we do?’ and there is this fixed analysis of how we apply, the sport plans if one thing does not go a sure approach. I see him simply being so relentless in that because the chief of our program. So to me, I simply assume it is a matter of time.”
