What we saw at Minnesota a few weeks ago was a coaching clinic by James Franklin, who looked like a genius pulling one correct string after another with a fake punt and other gutsy calls to secure a victory.

Given the recency bias, one could harp heavily on that game as a basis for saying this season has been Franklin’s best coaching job at Penn State.

But during the Lions’ only loss, Franklin committed coaching malpractice with some of the most pathetic playcalling I’ve ever seen inside the 5-yard line trying to tie against Ohio State. Maybe all that was Andy Kotelnicki’s fault, since he’s the playcaller, but ultimately everything comes back to Franklin.

For the sake of our discussion today, I’ll argue — somewhat begrudgingly — that this has indeed been Franklin’s best coaching job. I say begrudgingly because I’ll never be able to get over the ineptitude of the Ohio State finish.

Franklin redeemed himself in a big way by being ultra aggressive at Minnesota. Too many times in his career, he sheepishly has sunk in big moments. But the fake punt and subsequent calls showed that Franklin might have taken a key step forward when it comes to perhaps leading Penn State to the ultimate prize — a national championship.

I was sitting with my wife at a local restaurant when that fourth down came up at Minnesota, and I said to her with a grin, “They should fake this.” Now, had the play not worked and Penn State had lost, Franklin would have gotten destroyed by most people for a failed call.

But I don’t view coaching decisions based solely on the outcome. I felt, at that time, that the fake was a great call, and had it not worked, I still think it would have been a great call. The keys are all in the particulars, such as reading the situation, getting into the right play and executing it.

Penn State did all of those things, in large part because Franklin had his team fully prepared for the moment.

That’s coaching: Having your team prepared for ANY moment.

Franklin also deserves a lot of credit for going over on the sideline and calming down Drew Allar after the QB got upset with a botched play. That was a very human element of coaching, and Franklin excelled there.

Let’s also give Franklin credit for filling two giant openings on his staff with very good selections in Kotelnicki on offense and Tom Allen on defense. Both coordinators have outperformed this season.

Does Franklin still have a lot to prove this season? Absolutely.

Do I think Penn State will beat Oregon on Saturday for the Big Ten title? I do not.

Franklin still has to find a way to get off to better starts and not have everything come down to needing great second-half adjustments. And he still needs to prove he can make a Minnesota type of genius coaching decision while playing against a great opponent, not a mediocre one.

But the bottom line for me, I guess, is that I’ve seen Franklin grow as a coach this season. My gut tells me he’ll be ready to face an elite opponent in the playoff because he’s waited oh so long to get there and knows fully well what’s at stake.

I will admit that a lot of this is wishful thinking, and that I’m afraid what happened late against Ohio State could happen again.

But at least with Minnesota, Franklin looked like he’s turned a corner and become a coach we can trust more.

Was it a mirage or fool’s gold? We’ll have to wait and see.

Cory Giger is the host of “Sports Central” weekdays from 4-5 on 96.1 Hank FM.