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Coaching let down Penn State

James Franklin made a decision with 4:20 left in the Citrus Bowl, losing by six points at the Kentucky 14, to go for a field goal.

He did this thinking his defense could get one more stop to win or tie the game.

Why not go for the first down or the win there?

The worst thing that could have happened is you fail and you have already decided your defense needs one more stop. Go for the win from the 14-yard line.

In doing so, he threw Trace McSorley, Penn State and the fans under the bus again with his lack of coaching ability.

Franklin is absolutely one of the worst game-day coaches in college football. He proved that against Pitt three years ago, USC two years ago, Ohio State the last two years and Michigan State this year.

Neil Rudel was much too generous in his report card. Along with the F for special teams, the offensive coaching should have been an F-minus.

Ricky Rahne or whoever called the fake punt on the first series should follow wide receivers coach David Corley out the door — even Franklin, if it was his call.

The 2019 will be the 40th year that I’ve had season tickets. I’ve been to 10 bowl games, and I’ve never seen a less inspired PSU team — especially the coaches — than this year’s Citrus Bowl game.

It’s obvious either these recruits are overrated or the coaches are not doing their jobs. Personally, I believe it’s the coaching. Franklin has taken Penn State as far as it can go under his coaching.

It will be even worse next year without McSorley.

Ed Hill, Altoona

Nittany Lions’ mistakes add up

The Citrus Bowl was a perfect barometer of the season. Measure Trace McSorley by his toughness and smart play, but he missed too often.

The offensive line showed weakness that was evident all season.

There were too many dropped passes, missed tackles and way too many bad coaching calls. It adds up. Perhaps this is what we have to get used to.

Jeff Keiser, Margate N.J.

PSU puts forth sickening effort

I was sick to my stomach watching the Penn State football team get humiliated by Kentucky, a national basketball power.

These kids weren’t motivated at all. They were not prepared, they were outplayed and outcoached.

The most embarrassing thing is Cam Brown targeting a player and being thrown out of the game.

Why is it this team and program are sluggish in the first half of every game?

We all criticized Joe Paterno, but his teams were all prepared for bowl games.

James Franklin is in his fifth year, and he’s now 2-3 in bowl games.

Les Hart

Duncansville

Game poor reflection of coaches

“They came out and played harder than us,” Miles Sanders said after Penn State’s loss to Kentucky in the Citrus Bowl.

Egads. That can’t reflect very kindly on anybody involved but especially the coaching staff.

I’d say Penn State had plenty of motivation. A win would have given us our third straight top-eight finish in the polls. That would have looked a lot better than a bottom-of-the-top-25 finish.

The most disappointing thing to me? Although the coaches seemed to steady the ship after the Michigan debacle, they never solved the vexing issues.

Such as: Careless special teams (a punt return given up for a TD, a blocked field-goal attempt and one other miss, one kickoff out of bounds, a botched fake punt); a defense that can’t stop anybody when it really has to and an offense that needs to finish better so that a shaky, low-trajectory field-goal kicker doesn’t have to save us.

Rick Weber

Fort Myers, Fla.

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