Has this been James Franklin’s best coaching job? 2016 championship season still must rank at the top
As Lee Corso would say, "Not so fast, my friend."
I'm going with 2016, at least for now.
That could potentially change this year with a win Saturday night in the Big Ten championship game over No. 1 Oregon and if the Nittany Lions advance in the College Football Playoffs.
All of that is still on the table for James Franklin.
While he's done a very nice job this year, building on his weaknesses of the past and not allowing a loss to Ohio State to carry over and beat the Lions in consecutive weeks, I'm not ready to put this coaching job in front of the one he did in 2016 when he won the Big Ten title.
For one thing, he beat the Buckeyes that year -- regardless if it was a little fluky via a blocked field goal that was returned for a touchdown -- and when you can only claim one win in 11 tries, that one deserves credit.
Remember, Ohio State was ranked No. 2 at the time.
Much is made, deservedly so, about Franklin's lack of success vs. Top 10 teams. He's 3-18 with the latest blotch coming this year against, yep, the Buckeyes when Franklin and his staff mismanaged a golden goal-line opportunity and froze up as he too often has in big moments of the past.
Which is another reason I favor 2016.
A case can be made that the win over Ohio State is Franklin's best at Penn State. Right behind it is beating Wisconsin for the Big Ten championship the same year.
The Lions fell behind 28-7 and won that game, 38-31.
The decisive touchdown was a wheel route from the great Trace McSorley to Saquon Barkley, the two most generational players Franklin has recruited and developed.
If you google the game-winning offensive play, you'll notice the player the touchdown was dropped right over -- T.J. Watt, who at last check has made a pretty good name for himself.
So 2016 was special with Franklin's best two wins.
As he did that year in bringing in offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead, Franklin made solid moves this season to land OC Andy Kotelnicki and DC Tom Allen.
The 2016 season was also unique in that Penn State started off 2-2 with a loss at Pitt and a blowout at Michigan and then regrouped.
Franklin's status was becoming a topic. Sandy Barbour assured that he was safe, but many of the players behind the scenes feared if they lost to Minnesota the week after Michigan that he would lose what support he had.
That was pretty obvious when he was booed off the field at halftime while trailing 13-3 against Minnesota, a chorus of "Fire Franklin" ringing in his ears.
Almost like the reception he got after coughing up the loss to Ohio State this year.
But McSorley and Barkley saved the day in 2016, and the Lions won nine straight before falling short in the Rose Bowl against USC in a game for the ages.
That season solidified what has now become an 11-year tenure heading into this weekend -- and a chance for him to make it even better as beating Oregon would be the No. 1 win of his career and put a dent in the narrative to all those who call him Big Game James.
Rudel can be reached at nrudel@altoonamirror.com.