Penn State's recent failure in big games is an indictment of “Mid Game” James Franklin

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 another problem.

The two coaches, who are often criticized for different reasons, are united by their mutual observation. Day, who left the field with a big smile after his No. 4 Buckeyes defeated the No. 3 Nittany Lions, will undergo a stiff-arm test that day. Franklin left the field to jeers from Penn State fans and yelled directly at them before entering the tunnel on his way to the locker room.

After a momentous 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 simple: it's Franklin. He hasn't won a major game in eight years and the cliché has become a brand. He's once again mid game James. Sure, the Nittany Lions could regularly beat teams from the old Big Ten West Division, but now they're 1-10 against Ohio State. Back in 2016, a blocked field goal attempt was necessary to achieve a three-point victory. But in the last eight attempts, Franklin's teams failed against the Buckeyes. Each one was within reach, and yet they all slipped away. Or in the case of Saturday, hammered away.

In Unhappy Valley with Franklin, it has become a pattern of good, not great. Penn State is 1-13 against top-five competition in his 11 years. Against the top 10, Franklins 3-18. Against top-25 teams, Penn State is 13-27 under Franklin.

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Over the last decade, Franklin has been much better at complaining than at beating the Buckeyes. He often complains that the Big Ten made his team play away every year. The Nittany Lions opened on the road at Beaver Stadium in nine of his eleven seasons. But they were 7-2 in those games and included a one-point overtime loss in the pandemic-shortened season. Aside from the 49-10 loss at Michigan in 2016, this wasn't the first time the Nittany Lions faced a rival in the Big Ten.

Franklin took time this year to advocate for University Park Airport to extend runways so his team wouldn't have to take a bus to Harrisburg, about 90 minutes away. Although inconvenient, numerous Penn State sports teams and their opponents board Eastern Airlines' commercial flights at 5:45 a.m. and would immediately trade their seats for a charter. And that's a charter to the West Coast once a year.

No team discussed the desire to exit divisional play more often than Penn State, especially because the Nittany Lions always lost to Ohio State. But only twice did Penn State manage to finish with the league's second-best record, and in both years it would have lost on a tiebreaker to other teams, like Michigan State in 2017 or Minnesota in 2019.

After winning the league title in 2016, Franklin complained that Penn State's administration had not been “bold and aggressive” in using the achievement to introduce new facilities. During an appearance on the “Next Up” podcast with Adam Breneman in 2023, he said that Penn State's NIL was “two years behind” and “if all 750,000 alumni just did something, that would be a tremendous force.” In theory, that is important, provided you win enough big games to show that money works for you. So far he hasn't done it.

Franklin rightly believes Penn State is capable of competing for national championships like fellow conference members Ohio State and Michigan or the top teams in the SEC. Its athletic department was one of three Big Ten programs to exceed $200 million in revenue in the 2023 fiscal year. The football program ranked third in ticket sales among Big Ten schools this year with nearly $42 million. The Nittany Lions have no shortage of things that other elite programs have. Under Franklin, they reached five New Year's Six bowls.

But since entering the league in 2014, Mid Game James has Wisconsin third in the Big Ten with 95 wins, closer to seventh than first.

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So what’s holding Penn State back? Is it ZERO? Facilities? The airport runway? Starting with mid-level Big Ten programs? Play in the East Division, which no longer matters in the divisionless structure of the Big Ten?

Is it every offensive coordinator’s fault? Or is the one-point loss to Ohio State in 2019 about a run on fourth and fifth? Or is it a minus-4 turnover margin in a 44-31 setback to the Buckeyes in 2022? Or is it about running for 41 yards and completing 18 of 42 passes against Ohio State in 2023? How about letting Michigan rush 30 times in the second half last year, not attempting a pass, and still outscoring Penn State in the final two quarters?

This time, Franklin was all about overcoming the stereotype. After a touchdown in the fourth quarter, Penn State advanced to Ohio State's 3-yard line. They rushed three times in a row for 2 yards and never put Tyler Warren in his effective role as a short-yardage quarterback. Then on fourth down at the 1, quarterback Drew Allar threw into triple coverage and the pass fell incomplete.

Like last year against Michigan, Penn State's defense failed to stop Ohio State's running game in the second half. When Ohio State took the lead with 5:13 left, the Nittany Lions called all three timeouts. This was an opportunity for Penn State's defense to force a punt and make a statement. Instead, the Buckeyes got physical and imposed their will. In their four-minute offense, they beat Penn State's defense on 10 consecutive plays, gained four first downs, and then took a knee to end the game.

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 sailed over the pylon for a touchback.

These are tough games, especially away from home in front of 111,030 cheering fans. But the Buckeyes persevered. Penn State had its own problems with an interception in the end zone and a fourth-down stop at the goal line. When it was time to go big, Penn State came in the middle.

For Day, the ending was satisfying and allowed him to breathe. For mid game James, it was another big moment where he couldn't keep up.

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Photo by James Franklin: Scott Taetsch / Getty Images