In Reply to: About James Franklin posted by mh on October 06, 2025 at 11:28:34
What you say mh is spot on. Sure his won-loss record is impressive. However, consider:
Penn State fans are long past being content with 10-11 wins a season. They want championships. Many of the "experts" suggested this was the year to win the National Championship.
QB Drew Allar was back along with many of the other impact players on offense and defense. On paper, going into the season the Nits had the best team in the Big Ten.
The negatives, however, are many. And all point directly at Franklin, who I believe has a lot in common with a shifty used car dealer. Consider:
* Franklin's record against top 10 teams is a miserable 4-21. Within the conference it's 1-18. The lone win was in one of those Mickey Mouse whiteouts against Ohio State. It came within the last minute on a blocked Ohio FG attempt which was run back for a TD.
* Franklin's record against the top three in the Big Ten is Ohio State, 1-10; Michigan, 3-7; and Oregon, 0-1.
And, there's the hard look at Franklin as a coach. In tight games, you can make book on Franklin making at least one coaching blunder, which occurs all too often at a critical juncture in the game.
I've been watching college football, and UCLA, for longer than I like to admit.
The best comparison I can make with Franklin is John Cooper, the Ohio State coach from 1988-2000. John was an outstanding recruiter. His QB coach Walt Harris once told me there was more talent on his Ohio State teams that what he had with the New York Jets. Franklin may not recruit at Cooper's level, but Penn State's problems are rarely due to a lack of talent.
Coaching is another matter. During critical timeouts with the game on the line, Franklin isn't even involved in talking to his players. It's always the DC or OC. James kinda leans into the huddle listening, but never saying a word. It's comical to watch.
As for the Nits' defense, what's going on was very predictable. Jim Knowles defense is very complicated. It takes a couple seasons for it to fully take shape. Knowles' defense during his first year in Columbus was very disappointing. There was a slight improvement in year two, but things didn't really fall into place until after the Oregon loss in the regular season of 2024.