Once again I find myself in the undesirable position of having to defend James Franklin

With Ohio State’s loss, Penn State secured a spot in the Big 10 title game with a win over Maryland on Saturday night. Down 38 to 7 with time running out, PSU scored on fourth-and-12 at the Maryland 15. PSU went all out with its backups and scored a touchdown, leading to the following exchange after the game:

Maryland’s Mike Locksley was unhappy with Penn State’s James Franklin after suffering a 44-7 loss at Beaver Stadium. pic.twitter.com/NGl8TrO43k

— Mark Brennan (@MarkXBrennan) December 1, 2024

#PennState HC James Franklin on his post-game interaction with #Maryland HC Mike Locksley.

“My job is to put threes and fours in the game, but when the threes and fours come in the game, they get to play football. “These guys deserve to play football.”

👉… pic.twitter.com/i2fg8mOwiZ

— Penn State Nittany Lions | Happy Valley Insider (@PennStateRivals) December 1, 2024

Franklin: “Yes, I understand, right? At the end of the game we throw a touchdown. I understand it. But I will say a few things. My job is to bring the threes and fours into play. But when the threes and fours come into play, they can play football. These boys deserve to play football. Yours are in the game. You wanted to score. We’re trying to score points. Furthermore, you play Cover 0. If you don’t want to (to get points), play Cover 2. So I’m good with that. In addition, there is also a change in college football. We’re trying to play as long as possible, make the playoffs and be as seeded as possible. If you have as many points as possible, there is a difference in points. All of this is important! If you don’t understand that, it’s really not my problem. Win 1-0. I can handle it well, if you can’t do that, that’s your problem.”

This is not a problem as Franklin has done this before and always sticks to it consistently. He inserts the backups and the backups work like the starters. He’s not out here at the end of the game dropping bombs with Drew Allar. The guy who caught the TD pass, Tyseer Denmark of Imhotep, is a freshman who had one reception before this game. And the guy who threw him the pass is the second-string QB.

The exact same thing happened last year in PSU’s season opener. They had a big lead against West Virginia, WVU scored with Garrett Greene hitting a deuce, then Penn State came down and Beau Pribula (also a reserve last year) ran a one-in with about six seconds left to tie the score . Neal Brown complained about it, but Neal Brown is also a loser and will hopefully be unemployed sooner rather than later.

Could Franklin ask his twos and threes to get on their knees and end the game? Yes, sure. Maybe it’s an asshole move and karma will eventually bite him in the ass. There seems to be a perception going around that Franklin always scores more points against weak teams while suffocating against the big ones. I don’t know. Whatever. At least he has justification for his actions. The backups need representatives. They’re not just out there to go straight up the middle, especially if the other team is still trying. James Franklin is an asshole for many reasons, but that’s not one of them.