I like Franklin. He just isn't the guy.
- Thread starter psu
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Agree, that was by far the most important possession of the game and the season, and PSU totally turtled up.
so it’s the kicker’s fault for not barreling over a guy on the goal line and for missing a kick in a game where he was 3/4 including a 51-yarder, but not the $7m coach who left an easy 3 points on field, oversaw head scratching play calls, insists on cycling in Lovett over a far superior running back in Lee, and has a substandard offensive line for the 8th year in a row?
I’ve supported Franklin a long time and it’s not realistic to fire him, but if you’re still reflexively defending him at this point, I don’t know what to tell you. The same issues have been plaguing this team every year. His seat needs to be hot next year.
Sorry not you Dave.
At one point during the Illinois game down near their goal line, we went jumbo with 44 and 86 I believe and we manhandled them for a play or 3 then MY never used it again, not even during OT. Head scratching at best.
I can’t believe anyone watched 3 hours of the offense shooting itself in the foot, whiffing blocks, etc., and could come away with “defense cost them that game”.
Coach Franklin is a terrific recruiter. No one can question the man’s ability to recruit and land top athletes. But that’s not enough today.
Huh??? A glitch with this board? That was not my post this guy is quoting and having an argument with. So weird.
At this point the program/Franklin/the players do not know how to win close games. We just find ways to lose. Not all Franklin's fault but he is the CEO so he needs to take responsibility.
Why do we on countless times come up short at winning time?
-Chance to go up 2 scores early on these clowns and just let them off the hook with a bonehead fake FG.
-3rd and 13 with a chance to get off the field and keep momentum and our 5 star LB can't make a simple tackle.
-Lousy series after recovering fumble and settle for FG.
-Give up HUGE and game losing TD on simple TE crossing route. Really, now that's hard to do.
Bottom line is we are really good at NOT making the clutch play.
And it is a theme..just this year, yes 2nd string QB but again a horrendous defensive breakdown when it mattered most.
Can't score a 2 point play if their life depended on it against Illinois.
U$C Rose Bowl, O$U '17 and '18 and this year. MSU '17 and '18, Minny '19. On and on and freaking on.
Why do we on countless times come up short at winning time?
-Chance to go up 2 scores early on these clowns and just let them off the hook with a bonehead fake FG.
-3rd and 13 with a chance to get off the field and keep momentum and our 5 star LB can't make a simple tackle.
-Lousy series after recovering fumble and settle for FG.
-Give up HUGE and game losing TD on simple TE crossing route. Really, now that's hard to do.
Bottom line is we are really good at NOT making the clutch play.
And it is a theme..just this year, yes 2nd string QB but again a horrendous defensive breakdown when it mattered most.
Can't score a 2 point play if their life depended on it against Illinois.
U$C Rose Bowl, O$U '17 and '18 and this year. MSU '17 and '18, Minny '19. On and on and freaking on.
I agree on the RBs stopping. I just don't understand what's going on in the running back room.
Our offenses always revert back to Franklin backyard ball. I wish MY had full agency of the offense.
This. Every time our RB's are in a one-on-one situation, they are tackled. Every. Single. Time. On the flip side, our defensive guys rarely make a one-on-one tackle. The RB's always break away or at least gain another 3 yards before going down.
Here's where I am at. During the sanction years, I was ok with 8-4, 7-5 records. Because the kids played hard at a disadvantage and I knew things would get better. But 7-5, 8-4 at this juncture of Franklin's tenure, I'm just not sure of our future with him as our HC. Does anyone else feel this way?
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I think the last time they made a good move against a defender was Cain in the Wisky game. Such a huge disappointment all season.
Franklin is a great recruiter and a great representative of the university. I like him for all that but what he is is a great salesman. He sells Penn State to recruits and the public at large. However, his coaching leaves something to be desired and has been discussed at length, clock management, inability to make adjustments during the game, etc.
So Franklin is a great salesman but he is not a great coach.
So Franklin is a great salesman but he is not a great coach.
Yep. I think his ceiling is 2 losses a season. You can book either an O$U loss and/or scUM loss every season plus at least another one. And that is a "good" year. Other years we are looking at 4 or 5 losses like this year. Can you say "Program headed in wrong direction". At this point his defenders point to a B10 championship and two straight NY6 bowls. Of course we collapse in one of them. That is his ceiling, we have seen it, ain't getting better.
O line hasn’t been much of a strength since the calendar year began starting with a 2. I’m not sure what the answer is or why it has persisted through three different head coaches but it’s pretty undeniable.
Here is my overall issue with Franklin. I think he coaches like he’s coaching at Maryland or Rutgers. Seems to not have any confidence that his team can just win the game. He makes over-coaching calls that show a lack of trust in the players to just win the game. I’m never a “fire the coach” guy, but he’s got to develop a different approach.
It is hard to understand how Franklin can posses the abilities to lead an organization as complex as Penn State football yet continue to make boneheaded game day decisions with no signs of improvement. I won’t even pretend I could run the Penn State football program, but on 4th down in my own territory with a pretty good defense I punt. That is the fundamentally sound decision in nearly every circumstance. I’ve known that since I was a 10 year old. He is clearly one of very few people with the capabilities to do this job at a high level which makes these seemingly easy to correct mistakes exasperating. It just makes so little sense.
Your point still works and is accurate to the situation.
Guy I teach with was a manager at OSU from 97-2001. Said by the end of the 2000 season the entire buckeye section at the Outback bowl were booing Cooper on entry. Had enough. Everyone in the program knew he was toast.
JF probably get another year extension after this debacle. Different expectations unfortunately.
But you can’t take out the Pitt loss. It happened.
I know but it was right there for him to win and he was way ahead of schedule in 2016. Can't figure out what happened in the last 4 years?
The QB graduated, the running back was a unicorn, and he had a plethora of talented assistants that got plucked away.
It was there in ‘17 and they blew it twice in back to back weeks on basically their last chances to lose.
In ‘16 they were essentially eliminated in Sept with loss #2 to Michigan. They only got back into the discussion because the rest of cfb showed its ineptitude, but with Washington making it as they did, PSU was done after Michigan.
Unfortunately the way Coach Franklin’s contract is written I doubt the Administration can make a move. If his contract guarantees him 4 or 5 years salary there’s no way he’s going anywhere.
This team has lost the identity and brand of Penn State football. We are now like a soft Big12 team. Sad.
It’s plenty realistic. Are we the only school that can not make coaching changes? First get rid of the AD and then the Head Football Coach. Please. Enough excuses.
Every week for the past 2-3 seasons. His best season was a 3-loss B1G title year in 2016. He wasted some generational talent in 2017 and things have steadily headed downhill since. He’s a fantastic persona, but his approach has run its course at Penn State.
He has a $28m buyout. There is a 0% chance he’s getting fired for on the field performance this year.
I watched the shortened version of the WVU vs PSU game from 1991 the other day. Two major things jumped out at me right away. The team played with much more fire and intensity than PSU teams do now. The second was seeing the running backs hit the holes quickly with power and how much more ‘shifty’ they were compared to now. The current RBs just run into defenders and immediately go down.
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