Paul Finebaum blasts James Franklin for 'abysmal' record vs. Michigan, Ohio State after Wolverines loss
Penn State hosted Michigan on Saturday in one of the biggest Big Ten games of the season. In the end, the score was close but the Wolverines ran through James Franklin and the Nittany Lions.
The loss took Penn State out of the Big Ten race this season and once again solidified the Nittany Lions are decidedly behind both Ohio State and Michigan within the conference. Even the Wolverines not having head coach Jim Harbaugh didn’t change the outcome for Penn State.
“I think it was a negligible loss,” Finebaum said on SportsCenter. “Really, I’m not sure what difference Harbaugh would’ve made. First of all, he would’ve called the same plays. He would have operated the game in the same way.”
Ultimately, Finebaum wasn’t blaming Michigan for anything. Instead, he put a lot of blame on James Franklin and his inability to beat Ohio State and Michigan.
“By the way, it doesn’t look great but Michigan didn’t have to do anything for one reason. James Franklin is one of the most unimaginative big game coaches in the history of the game. I don’t know what he was trying to do but it didn’t look like he was trying to win the game, and that’s what you’re supposed to do. His record in these big games against Ohio State and Michigan is abysmal and I think that’s one reason why Michigan played it close to the vest and won fairly easily.”
With the loss, Penn State fell to just 4-16 all-time against Ohio State and Michigan under James Franklin.
James Franklin, reporter dispute Penn State’s decision to go for 2
In the final minutes of Penn State’s loss to Michigan, the Nittany Lions scored. An extra point would make it an eight point game but James Franklin chose to go four two points. The Nittany Lions didn’t get it and instead faced a two-score deficit.
After the game, Franklin was asked about that decision and got into a dispute with a reporter over it.
“Again, very similar answer. We felt like points were going to be hard to come by. We were down by four. We wanted to put ourself in a position to get it back to a field goal game. Again, those were all the numbers we work through from an analytics standpoint. As a staff, everybody was comfortable. We thought it was the right thing to do. Obviously we didn’t pick it up,” Franklin said of Penn State’s first half attempt.
When asked about the decision in the second half, James Franklin said it was for the same reason. However, the reporter clearly didn’t agree.
The reporter said that he didn’t agree with the decision.
“You don’t agree with it. I’m just telling you, that’s the decision —” Franklin said, pausing briefly. “We’re trying to get back, we’re trying to get back. We felt like points were going to be hard to come by. We wanted to get it back. I’ve answered the question.”