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Heather Dinich, Senior College Football Insider
There is no sugar: like State of PennsylvaniaCoach James Franklin has an abysmal 3-19 record against opponents ranked in the Associated Press top 10 – and is just 3-10 when his team is also in the top 10.
It’s a mark that saw a slight but significant increase with Penn State’s resounding 31-14 College Football Playoff quarterfinal victory over No. 8-ranked Boise State in the VRBO Fiesta Bowl, but every step forward in the CFP bracket comes greater opportunity — and stronger doubters about Franklin’s ability to beat the best.
As a Big Ten runner-up and the No. 6 seed in the College Football Playoff, the narrative surrounding Penn State was arguably the easiest path to the national title: a home game against the No. 11 seed outclassed SMU, followed by a matchup against Mountain West Conference champion and No. 3 seed Boise State. The Nittany Lions outscored their first two playoff opponents by a combined score of 69-24.
Today, Franklin is two wins away from the school’s first national championship since 1986, but to win it he must do something that has eluded him for most of his career: beat a top-5 team. is 1-14 at Penn State against AP Top-5 teams, with the only win coming in 2016 against No. 2 Ohio State. For comparison, former Alabama coach Nick Saban (30-16), former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer (14-5) and Georgia coach Kirby Smart (11-7 ) all have winning records against AP Top-5 opponents, according to ESPN Research. . Ohio State coach Ryan Day, however, is 5-6 against them, and former Penn State coach Joe Paterno was 3-12 in his first 15 games against the AP Top-5 teams at Penn State.
Franklin is also 0-5 against teams ranked in the top five by the CFP selection committee, and he has lost those games by an average of 20.4 points according to ESPN Research. The Nittany Lions will face Notre Dame (No. 3 AP/No. 5 CFP) on Thursday in the College Football Playoff semifinals at the Capital One Orange Bowl (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) in what is undoubtedly the biggest match of Franklin’s career.
Franklin “understands” the frustration of his fans. He declined to comment for this story, but had this to say after a 20-13 loss to No. 4 Ohio State on Nov. 2: “Nobody looks in the mirror harder than me.” I’ve said it before, but 99% of college football programs would die to do what we’ve been able to do during our time here.
Despite struggling against top teams, Franklin enters the Orange Bowl with a 101-41 record and a 64-33 mark in the Big Ten over the last decade in State College. This includes five top-10 finishes, a Big Ten title (2016), and regular appearances in New Year’s Six bowl games. Under Franklin, Penn State joins Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio State as the only programs to have placed in the selection committee’s final top 12 in at least seven of the last nine seasons.
He has six years left on his contract and the support of his administration.
“I’m not going to give credence to the criticism, because I see it differently,” said Penn State athletic director Patrick Kraft, who was hired at Penn State on July 1, 2022 after serving two years as athletic director at Boston College. . “When I got here, I was really surprised where the infrastructure was and how everything was set up, how behind we really were. Yes, the wins and losses are what we are all judged by, but I can tell you, the culture of this building and the young men it brings in and graduates are second to none.
“You don’t see behind the curtain as a fan or just as someone watching,” Kraft said, “and when you go behind the curtain, what stands out for me is the culture and the family. That’s really how everything was built, but the infrastructure behind it didn’t fit that culture and we still have a way to go. So yes, we want to win every game – that’s the expectation of every program. but seeing what he did and that consistency is what is remarkable In my opinion.
As a former Big Ten head coach who spent seven seasons leading Indiana, first-year Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Allen has studied the Nittany Lions from the inside out. He planned a match against Franklin, and now he’s trying to help Franklin win its first national title. Allen heard Franklin’s criticisms when he was at Indiana, and he heard them again as a member of Franklin’s staff.
“Now that I’m here and I see behind the scenes and the day-to-day and I see what a bulldog he is – that’s the word I use – he’s a bulldog for details and little things and just being on top of everything,” Allen said. “To me, those criticisms aren’t fair, but until you win those big games, they’re going to be there. And I think all of us, as a team. coaches, let’s understand this.
What Franklin has accomplished thus far is often overshadowed by what he did not accomplish. According to ESPN Research, when Franklin won his 100th game at Penn State in the first round against SMU, he became the fourth FBS coach to win 100 games at a single school since heading to State College in 2014. elite company, joining Dabo Swinney at Clemson (129 since 2014), Nick Saban at Alabama (127 from 2014-23) and Kirby Smart at Georgia (105 since 2016).
There is one thing that separates Franklin from the rest of the group, however: multiple national titles.
“We don’t shy away from expectations,” Kraft said. “As the head coach at Penn State, he gets so much scrutiny and he handles that internally really well. He and I are partners in this.
A current Big Ten head coach said Franklin’s expectations should reflect the resources he has to work with.
“Ryan Day has been to championships, Clemson has been to championships, Bama has won them, Michigan has won them,” he said. “If Penn State’s expectation is that they should have at least played for championships in the 10 years of his tenure, then no, he didn’t make it, did he? If their expectation is, “Hey, we’ve only given him resources to be a 10-win team, a January 1st bowl team, right at the bottom of the blue bloods from a resource standpoint – which is what I don’t know – so yeah, he fits the expectations of a 10-win guy. If you’re a blue blood, do you have resources like Clemson, like Michigan, like Ohio State, like the people we compare them to, because it’s not fair to have that expectation if he didn’t have the resources.
Kraft said much of Penn State’s growth under Franklin has happened behind the scenes with things like work to build NIL’s budget, assistant coaches’ salaries, stadium renovations and improvements for Penn State student-athletes across all sports in areas such as mental health. , nutrition and travel – all things that ultimately contribute to winning a national title but happen off the field.
“You have to build the infrastructure internally,” Kraft said. “That’s what I think has really improved is allowing it – and all of our sports – to go and do the things they need to do internally to get to the championship level. “
A second Big Ten head coach said the most notable improvements with Penn State and Franklin this year are two-fold: the hiring of two proven coordinators in Allen and offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, and Franklin’s overall growth as a as head coach in certain situations.
“James has surrounded himself, in my opinion, with perhaps the best combo of coordinators in our league,” the source said. “Now James is able to manage games and do the things he’s good at for the first time. He’s on a different level as a head coach.
“I get it, I understand the narrative,” the coach said, “but it’s probably based more on the past than the present. Even he has a better understanding of how you should use your players. He’s at Penn State for so long, he’s always been the favorite, so when he goes into these games where he’s the underdog, you not only have to play differently, but you have to strategize differently. And when he executed that fake punt. punt against Minnesota… I don’t think he never had to do that before, and he kind of realizes that this is what I have to do to win this match I can’t win it just on my talent. that.
Kotelnicki said Franklin doesn’t get enough credit for being as consistently good as he is. From 2016 to 2019, Franklin led Penn State to 42 victories, the most wins in program history for the Big Ten era, and a school-record 28 conference victories.
“It’s really tough to win, and to do it over a decade like he did as a head football coach here, it’s really tough,” Kotelnicki said in the Nittany Lions locker room after their victory against Boise State. “I have had the opportunity in my life to work with very good head coaches. He’s in elite company, that’s for sure. So I don’t know if (beating Boise State) is going to silence the critics – probably not. … But I hope it (calms down) a little bit for him. He deserves a little bit of “Alright, OK, I guess he’s okay.” »
Penn State’s defense was more than “OK” in the Fiesta Bowl win over Boise State, and it will need to play at a championship level for Franklin to improve its record and advance against the Irish. According to ESPN Research, defense has been the heart of Penn State’s problem in previous top-10 matchups. The Nittany Lions have allowed 31 points per game in those matchups and 422 total yards. The defense also allowed 190 rushing yards per game under Franklin in the first 10 games.
Against Boise State and Ashton JeantyThe Heisman runner-up was held to a season-low 104 rushing yards. This trend will need to continue: Notre Dame has leaned on its running game this season, ranking in the top five in yards per carry and rushing touchdowns.
Penn State will be playing in its third AP Top-5 game of the season, losing the previous two games to Ohio State and Oregon. The program’s woes also run deeper than Franklin: The Nittany Lions haven’t won a top-five game since 1999 against No. 4 Arizona.
“You just have to do a great job of blocking that, but also not be afraid to dig in and find ways to create change,” Allen said. “That’s what I see him doing, is, ‘Hey, what can we do?’ and there’s this constant evaluation of how we practice, game plans if something isn’t going a certain way. I see him as so relentless as a leader of our program. So for me, I think it’s just a matter of time.