STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Penn State coach James Franklin walked off the field and down the tunnel inside Beaver Stadium on Saturday to fans calling for his job after a 24-15 loss to Michigan.
The fans booed during the game when Franklin ran the ball on third down, failing to get a first down, and booed a loss that puts Franklin’s record as Penn State’s coach at 1-12 against Associated Press top-five opponents. It was the Nittany Lions’ second loss of the season to a top-five opponent, the first coming in a 20-12 defeat against Ohio State, and Franklin is now 4-16 against Ohio State and Michigan, which are No. 1 and No. 3, respectively, in the College Football Playoff rankings.
“We’ve lost to the No. 1 and the No. 3 team in the country. That’s not good enough; we got to find ways to win those games,” said Franklin, whose Nittany Lions are No. 10 in the CFP rankings. “But, address it, be honest, be transparent, go after it head on and then move on to the next opponent so we can find a way to get a win next week. And we’ll finish this thing in a positive direction.”
In this game, the offense struggled to put points on the board and put up enough yards to sustain drives throughout the game. Quarterback Drew Allar had just 70 yards passing, completing 45% of his attempts.
Franklin recognized Michigan’s defense as one of the best in the country but acknowledged that he and his staff were part of the offense’s struggles.
“We got to do a better job of calling a game to allow a quarterback to get into rhythm. That is critical,” Franklin said. “We got to find easy completions for a quarterback to get into rhythm, that’s what everybody does. We got to do a good job of that and then on top of that, although there wasn’t sacks, there was too many pressures. And there was too many times where we’re not creating separation.”
Allar blamed himself in part for the loss, rather than agreeing with his coach about getting into a rhythm. His fumble in the third quarter, with his team down 14-9, was a critical play that led to a Michigan field goal and the Wolverines building momentum toward their win.
He also blamed himself for missing a throw to Penn State receiver Kaden Saunders in the fourth quarter that would have extended a drive and said his play wasn’t good enough to win this game.
“Just execute,” Allar said when asked what the team needs to do when the game is on the line. “I think there was a couple times where we were in the right playcall and us as players, we just didn’t execute. So, I think we just need to do a better job overall, just going out and executing whatever the coaches call.”
The offense struggled to execute, but Michigan’s defense has been making it difficult for offenses all season and it was no different in this game. Penn State scored on three of its 10 drives, converted three of 14 third downs and averaged 5.6 yards on third down.
Fans booed when Allar ran the ball on third-and-5 in the second quarter, only to fall short of the first-down marker. Franklin’s call again drew ire when he decided to go for a 2-point conversion after a touchdown in the second quarter, which fell incomplete and left the score at 14-9 in Michigan’s favor.
The team again went for a 2-point conversion, and failed, in the fourth quarter, leaving the Nittany Lions down by nine, but Franklin said those playcalls aligned with the analytics and defended them as the right calls in those moments.
“At some point you’re gonna have to be aggressive and you’re going to have to make one of those calls like we did in the first half,” Franklin said. “At some point, we can’t just keep giving the ball back to Michigan. It puts our defense in a tough spot if we don’t pick it up. But we’re going to have to pick up one of those third or fourth downs to stay on the field to give us the best chance to win the game.”
The loss put Penn State at 8-2 on the season and very likely put the team’s hopes of a Big Ten championship berth to rest. The team still has Rutgers and Michigan State on the schedule, but with its chances of a conference title and playoff berth dashed, Allar said the team needs to keep moving forward and stay focused on winning the game in front of them.
“A lot can happen in college football. So, we just have to stick together,” Allar said. “Keep sticking together and just learn from it tomorrow, be very critical of ourselves, learn from it, and then just move on. At this point, we just got to bounce back this week in practice and just play our hearts out.”
