James Franklin does push-ups for failing to fact-check Penn State White Out

James Franklin holds himself to a high standard. After failing to fact-check the last time Penn State held a “White Out” game, the Penn State head coach hit the deck for five push-ups.

Solid form, Coach. Penn State will host No. 24 Iowa this Saturday for its annual White Out game, which CBS will carry as part of its new media rights deal with the Big Ten. This will be the first time Iowa is Penn State’s White Out opponent since 2009.

After pumping out five push-ups, Franklin owned up to his mistake.

“I got to do five,” Franklin said with a smile. “I got to own it because I should have fact-checked it. So, everybody is held accountable around here.”

Penn State and Iowa will square off at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Penn State announces honorary captains

Of course, for such a historical event, Penn State had to bring back a couple of historic Nittany Lions. On Saturday, the program will welcome back Trace McSorley and Grant Haley as honorary captains.

James Franklin announced it Tuesday as Penn State hosts Iowa in a top-25 showdown. The Nittany Lions are No. 7 while the Hawkeyes are No. 25 in the latest AP Poll.

The two former Nittany Lions didn’t waste any time getting to Happy Valley either.

“Trace McSorley and Grant Haley will be this week’s honorary captains for Penn State, James Franklin said,” BlueWhite Illustrated’s Greg Pickel wrote on Twitter.“Both former Lions are already in town ahead of Saturday’s matchup with Iowa.”

McSorely was a sixth-round pick by the Baltimore Ravens in the 2019 NFL Draft and was with the team for three seasons. The former Penn State quarterback had stints with the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots as well, who just released him prior to the current regular season.

Last season for Arizona, McSorley had 45 completions on 83 attempts for 412 yards and five interceptions. In preseason action for the Patriots, he posted four yards on one completion with three attempts.

While with the Nittany Lions, McSorely was a three-time Second-Team All-Big Ten selection. He finished his Penn State career with a 31-9 record, 9,899 yards, 77 touchdowns, 25 interceptions, a 59.3% completion percentage, 1,697 rushing yards and 30 rushing touchdowns.

McSorely also led Penn State to a 2016 Big Ten title and won the 2017 Fiesta Bowl.

Haley, a former cornerback for the Nittany Lions, went undrafted in 2018 but played for the New York Giants, New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Rams through the 2022 season. He’s currently a free agent.

Haley was a member of the Rams’ Super Bowl LVI championship team. But he also had an accomplished college career with Penn State, in addition to being teammates with McSorely.

He played in 47 games in four years and finished with 139 total tackles, 89 solo tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, five interceptions, 22 pass deflections, one fumble recovery, one forced fumble and one defensive touchdown.

McSorely and Haley will provide Penn State fans with a little extra energy on Saturday, not that they’ll need it.

On3’s Nick Kosko also contributed to this article.