For Ohio State coach Ryan Day, his team’s 20-13 win at Penn State was a relief. For Nittany Lions coach James Franklin, it’s yet another headache.
The two oft-criticized coaches — for different reasons — are connected through their mutual scrutiny. Day, who walked off the field with a big smile after his No. 4 Buckeyes finished off the No. 3 Nittany Lions, gets to stiff arm scrutiny on this day. Franklin left the field to taunts from Penn State fans, shouting right back at them before entering the tunnel on his way to the locker room.
In the aftermath of a consequential Big Ten brawl, the burning question is both simple and nebulous. Was this a better win for Day or a worse loss for Franklin?
The answer is easy: it’s Franklin. He hasn’t won a big game in eight years and the stereotype has become a brand. He’s Mid Game James, once again. Sure, the Nittany Lions could regularly beat teams from the old Big Ten West Division, but they’re now 1-10 against Ohio State. It took a blocked field-goal attempt to clinch that three-point victory way back in 2016. But in their last eight tries, Franklin’s teams have fallen short against Buckeyes. Each one was within grasp, yet they all have slipped away. Or in Saturday’s case, pounded away.
It has become a pattern of good, not great, in Unhappy Valley with Franklin. Against top-five competition in his 11 years, Penn State is 1-13. Against the top 10, Franklin’s 3-18. When facing top 25 teams, Penn State is 13-27 under Franklin.
Over the last decade, Franklin has been much better at complaining than beating the Buckeyes. He often gripes that the Big Ten made his team start league play on the road every year. True, in nine of his 11 seasons the Nittany Lions opened away from Beaver Stadium. But they were 7-2 in those games and one loss came by one point in overtime in the pandemic-shortened season. Outside of the 49-10 pasting at Michigan in 2016, the Nittany Lions didn’t make their first Big Ten trip to a contender.
Franklin took time this year to lobby for the University Park airport to extend the runways so his team doesn’t have to bus to Harrisburg, which is located about 90 minutes away. While inconvenient, plenty of Penn State’s sports teams and their opponents board 5:45 a.m. Eastern commercial flights and would trade places for a charter in a heartbeat. And that’s one charter to the West Coast once a year.
No team discussed a desire to end divisional play more than Penn State, mostly because the Nittany Lions always lost to Ohio State. But only twice did Penn State tie for the league’s second-best record and both years it would have lost tiebreakers to other teams, like Michigan State in 2017 or Minnesota in 2019.
After winning the league title in 2016, Franklin complained Penn State’s administration wasn’t “bold and aggressive” in capitalizing on the performance to usher in new facilities. On a 2023 appearance on the podcast Next Up with Adam Breneman, he said Penn State’s NIL is “two years behind” and “If all 750,000 alumni would just do something, there’s tremendous power in that.” In theory, that’s important, provided you win enough big games to show that money works for you. So far, he hasn’t.
Franklin rightly views Penn State as capable of competing for national championships, like conference peers Ohio State and Michigan or the top teams in the SEC. His athletic department was one of three Big Ten programs to exceed $200 million in revenues during fiscal year 2023. The football program ranked third in ticket sales among Big Ten schools at nearly $42 million that year. The Nittany Lions aren’t lacking things other elite programs have. They’ve reached five New Year’s Six bowls under Franklin.
But since entering the league in 2014, Mid Game James is tied with Wisconsin for third in the Big Ten with 95 victories and is closer to seventh place than first.
So, what’s holding back Penn State? Is it NIL? Facilities? The airport runway? Starting on the road at mid-level Big Ten programs? Playing in the East Division, which no longer matters in the Big Ten’s divisionless structure?
Is it every offensive coordinator’s fault? Or is it calling a run on fourth-and-5 in a one-point loss to Ohio State in 2019? Or is it a minus-4 turnover margin in a 44-31 against the Buckeyes in 2022? Or is it rushing for 41 yards and completing 18-of-42 passes against Ohio State in 2023? What about allowing Michigan to rush 30 times in the second half last year and not attempt a pass and still outscore Penn State during the final two quarters?
This time, it was all there for Franklin to shed the stereotype. Down by a touchdown in the fourth quarter, Penn State moved to the Ohio State 3-yard line. They rushed three straight times for 2 yards and never put tight end Tyler Warren in his effective role as short-yardage quarterback. Then on fourth down at the 1, quarterback Drew Allar threw into triple coverage and the pass fell incomplete.
Like against Michigan last year, Penn State’s defense failed to stop Ohio State’s running game in the second half. When Ohio State took over at its 1 with 5:13 left, the Nittany Lions held all three timeouts. That was the opportunity for Penn State’s defense to force a punt and make a statement. Instead, the Buckeyes got physical and asserted their will. In their four-minute offense, they battered Penn State’s defense for 10 straight running plays and churned out four first downs, then took a knee to end the game.
Just like Franklin, Ohio State and Day had something to prove, and they did. The Buckeyes overcame adversity after Will Howard’s pick-six on Ohio State’s third play from scrimmage and an early 10-0 deficit. In the second quarter, Howard sprinted 13 yards, fumbled at the 1-yard line and the ball caromed over the pylon for a touchback.
Those are tough plays, especially on the road in front of 111,030 screaming fans. But the Buckeyes persevered. Penn State faced its own issues with an interception in the end zone and the fourth-down stop at the goal line. When it was time to get big, Penn State got mid.
For Day, the end was satisfying and allows him to exhale. For Mid Game James, it was yet another big moment where he didn’t measure up.
Photo of James Franklin: Scott Taetsch / Getty Images
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