Penn State coach James Franklin understands the continued focus on his big-game struggles, especially in the wake of Saturday’s overtime home loss to Oregon.
But Franklin can control how he views those games, and how he chooses to respond to the scrutiny. The Oregon loss dropped Franklin to 4-21 against AP Top 10 opponents at Penn State, tied for the third worst record by a head coach at a single school in the AP Poll era.
“I try to answer the tough questions that you guys give,” Franklin told reporters Monday. “It’s not always easy to do. I wouldn’t say I enjoy this whatsoever, but I also understand you guys have got a job to do and these tough questions are going to come. I will also say that I’m not going to allow one loss to define our season. I’m not going to allow a few losses to define my career and what we have done here at Penn State, because although I don’t think a lot of people spend a ton of time on what we have done over our 12 years here.
“I get it. Nobody wants to hear this right now. There are a ton of positives.”
Franklin is 100-22 against non-Top 10 foes at Penn State, and won 34 games in the previous three seasons. Last season, Penn State reached the Big Ten championship game for the first time since winning a title in 2016, and won its first two College Football Playoff games before falling to Notre Dame in the national semifinal.
Penn State dropped to No. 7 following the Oregon loss, and visits winless UCLA on Saturday. The Nittany Lions could face consecutive Top 10 opponents when they visit No. 1 Ohio State on Nov. 1, and then host No. 8 Indiana on Nov. 8.
Franklin cited inconsistency as a problem throughout the offense and noted how often Penn State was in third-and-long against Oregon. The Lions converted 6 of 15 third-down chances in the loss.
“You saw how we were structured last year in terms of how we would like to manage the offense and be able to run the ball, be able to stay ahead of the sticks, create manageable third-down situations, and also use that with the ability to go play-action pass and take shots down the field,” Franklin said. “Until you’re able to establish the running game, which we were able to do late in the game, which opened everything up from that point on, we have not been able to do it consistently.”
Franklin said Penn State’s sports information staff often sends him clips of how other coaches address tough losses, and that he doesn’t think those responses “would go over very well here.”
“Screaming, yelling, pointing fingers, we’re not going to do,” Franklin said. “Also, there is a part of making sure that I represent this program, this university the right way, and do it with class and integrity. That probably shows up in times like that more than other times. It’s not fun and easy when you care as deeply as we care.”