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Rudel: Fake field goal exposes Franklin in Michigan loss

UNIVERSITY PARK – James Franklin has many excellent qualities.

He’s a strong communicator, leader and an accomplished recruiter in addition to being a terrific representative of Penn State and college football.

But when you get to the day of the game and need spontaneous in-game strategy, well, let’s just say it’s not his strong suit.

Whether it’s not calling timeouts when he should, or bizarre calls with the game on the line, there have been too many head-scratching situations that have contributed to Penn State sinking into the state of mediocrity it currently resides.

Saturday against Michigan, a game won by the Wolverines 21-17, took the cake.

Michigan came in ranked No. 9 – No. 6 in the College Football Playoff rankings — and was beatable in every way, and Penn State was good enough physically.

Where the game was lost was in the ingenuity department as Franklin tried to outsmart himself.

Franklin talks about the half-dozen plays that decide each game. Following is the one from which the Nittany Lions never recovered and left 109,534 witnesses shaking their heads.

Leading 3-0 after surprising Michigan with a fake punt, and Jordan Stout deftly throwing an 18-yard pass to Curtis Jacobs, the Lions drove to the Wolverines’ 2-yard line, where they faced fourth down.

Franklin had two choices: Kick the field goal to go up 6-0 or run a play that if successful would make a 10-0 lead — thus stoking the home crowd. If unsuccessful, not all we would be lost as Michigan would be pinned in the shadow of its goalpost.

What was the decision?

Franklin ordered a fake field goal with his holder, Rafael Checa, trying to throw a flare pass to Stout, who was snowed under, sucking the air out of Beaver Stadium.

Expecting that combination to work – a holder from a kneeling position to make a good throw and a kicker to catch the ball in stride and score against one of the nation’s best defenses – defied logic.

There were a hundred plays that would have been better.

And yet, Franklin stood by it. His explanation:

“We have not been great in short-yardage situations,” he said. “So, that was our going for it on fourth down. Don’t think we had the look that we wanted but it’s about details. We threw the ball to the back hip. He was not the type of guy that was going to be able to catch a ball thrown behind him and still be able to outrun the defense.”

Bad look, blaming the players — and now Franklin’s defiance: “I’d make the call again, but obviously, it wasn’t successful.”

Stout caught the pass, which was a tad low, and started running to his left.

“It was a little bit behind me,” he said. “I’m a punter and kicker; that doesn’t mean I’m not a good athlete. But I don’t run the plays every day, and it’s out of my comfort zone … I had a hard time staying in stride with the pass, and it came up a little short.”

With four Michigan players closing in, Stout pulled up and briefly thought about throwing because he was still behind the line of scrimmage.

“Once I caught it I was going to run it and score,” he said. “It was something we’ve never worked on, me passing it. I changed my mind because it wasn’t open anymore. I don’t know what I was trying to do.”

He was asked what was going through his mind at that moment. He forced a smile as if ready to say, “Holy (blank),” and instead said, “How do I score a touchdown?”

Though it was the Lions’ biggest gaffe of the game – through no fault of the players – it also typified the red-zone struggles.

Penn State had the ball in Michigan territory six times – five times inside the 25 — and scored just one touchdown. The Lions, unbelievably, ran 37 of the game’s first 43 plays.

Franklin has zero confidence in the run game, evidenced by the fake field goal, and the fact that the Lions ran eight plays before a running back carried and 14 before a second touched it.

When the beleaguered offensive line finally asserted itself better, Keyvone Lee rushed 14 times for 74 yards in the second half, and yet when the Lions got the ball via a fumble at the Michigan 16 with 6:45 left, tied 14-14, Sean Clifford ran once and had two incompletions, forcing a Stout field goal (that wasn’t a fake) for a 17-14 lead.

Then Michigan drove 75 yards for what would be the game-winning touchdown on a 47-yard tight end drag from Cade McNamara to Erick All.

Franklin summed it up by saying, “We were aggressive and we called the game in a way we felt gave us a chance to win.”

At the end of the windy cold day, with the stadium cleared out, Franklin twice mentioned being in the Big Ten East and how Penn State has little margin for error.

Reminded that the Lions, losers of four of their last five, are 10-9 in the last seasons (not to mention 2-12 vs. Top 10 teams at PSU), Franklin said, “We got to find ways to execute, and we got to do a better job coaching.”

No one can disagree with that call.

¯¯¯

Rudel can be reached at nrudel@altoonamirror.com.

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