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 timeouts. On third-and-10, Nick Singleton rushed for 9 yards to the Minnesota 14. Penn State ran the play clock down and called a timeout with 27 seconds left.
Franklin could have had Barker try a short field goal, but the Lions earlier had a punt and a PAT blocked. Instead, he decided to go for it in order to keep the ball away from the Gophers.
Allar suggested a play that Franklin and offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki liked. Earlier in the second half, Franklin had to calm Allar, who was agitated by Minnesota’s defensive linemen calling out Penn State’s cadence.
“The main goal was to get it to Nick in the flat,” Allar said, “because we were anticipating them squeezing in trying to stop some sort of inside zone or quarterback sneak.”
As Singleton sprinted to the right, the Gophers sent a defensive back and linebacker in his direction. Allar rolled right, pivoted, stepped up in the pocket and threw left to Tyler Warren, who was wide open at the 3.
Ballgame.
“That play at the end between Drew and Tyler, that’s a coach’s dream,” Franklin said. “You call it and the play’s not clean. He goes to the back side. We make the surrender call, which means once you get the first down, get down whether you can score or not. Tyler Warren did it exactly the way he’s coached. Shocker. Drew found a way to extend the play.”
Penn State ran the final 12 plays of the game with a one-point lead. It was exquisite execution, strategy and game management.
If fans want to blame Franklin for the play-calling from the Ohio State 3 late in the fourth quarter, go ahead. He deserves it.
On the flip side, he also deserves credit and perhaps praise for the way he coached the final 5:48 Saturday against an inspired opponent. It was Penn State’s fourth win this season after trailing at halftime, three of them on the road.
“We wanted to go for it,” Singleton said about the final play. “We wanted to end the game on our terms. Coach Franklin agreed. It shows that we’re aggressive. We found a way to win.”
