James Franklin called out for dodging question regarding struggles vs. Ohio State

Penn State has seen consistent success under James Franklin during his tenure as head coach, but the Nittany Lions have struggled to crack something of a glass ceiling since he took over ahead of the 2014 season. And a loss to Ohio State on Saturday seems to have set back any hopes that 2023 could be the year for Penn State to break through.

Franklin is 1-9 in 10 tries versus Ohio State as the Penn State coach; and the one year he got over the Buckeyes, Penn State lost to Pitt and was thumped, 49-10, by Michigan. And after the loss to Ohio State on Saturday, Franklin was pressed about his struggles to get over the hump for conference titles and the like, specifically his record against Ohio State.

One of the reporters in the postgame press conference asked Franklin if it’s fair to judge him and Penn State’s success through the lens of their record against Ohio State.

“I totally get it. I totally get it. That’s a good football team. What I’ll talk about is today. We lost to a really good football team on the road. We had our chances. We battled. We weren’t able to capitalize. Big picture things, I’ll be happy to talk about that at some point, but right now I want to talk about we lost to a really good football team on the road. Didn’t make enough plays when we needed to make the plays. I think it’s a fair question, I get the question, but right now i’m worried about this game,” Franklin said.

The reporter pressed further, trying to get Franklin to interface with the big picture nature of the question.

Franklin outright said he wasn’t going there, acknowledging that though his answer might not be what the reporter wanted, it was an answer nonetheless.

“I did answer. I didn’t answer it the way you wanted me to but go on,” Franklin said.

The reporter responded, before moving on to a question about how the Penn State passing game fell short.

“I think it’s a non-answer,” the reporter said.

Franklin took the blame for offensive struggles on Saturday

Penn State finished with only 240 total yards in the contest, while Allar finished with 191 passing yards.

“All year long, we’ve called the game and managed the game to put him in the best situation to be successful,” Franklin said after the game, according to beat writer Greg Pickel. “And we weren’t able to do that today.”

Allar was harassed throughout the contest, throwing 42 times but completing only 18 of his passes. That sub-50% completion percentage made life difficult on the Nittany Lions offensively, particularly given the lack of a consistent ground game.

Penn State ran for just 49 yards on 26 carries in the contest.