Penn State players ignore James Franklin, plant flag on USC field

James Franklin wasn’t having it as Penn State players celebrated by planting a flag at midfield after a 33-30 road win against USC on Saturday. The Nittany Lions coach quickly came rushing in to take the flag away from cornerback Audavion Collins as he waved it around.

Penn State had plenty of reason to be excited after escaping in overtime after trailing for much of the game. However, clearly Franklin didn’t agree with the way they went about expressing it. You can view the moment below.

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Penn State players just planted a flag at midfield. James Franklin told them absolutely not. Too late. pic.twitter.com/gFi8ccKOI2

— Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) October 12, 2024

That’s not to say the coach wasn’t equally as amped up after the win. He was caught using some colorful language during the postgame interview as he embraced kicker Ryan Barker, who nailed the 36-yard game-winner in OT.

“Are you kidding me? Huh? F***ing awesome!” Franklin said.

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Penn State got down by two touchdowns early and battled back to tie the game with 2:53 remaining. The defense then forced an interception to get the ball back and have a chance to win the game.

Unfortunately, the Nittany Lions would also go on to turn the ball over to force overtime. After their defense came up with a stop, all they needed was Barker to come through and he certainly did.

With the win, Penn State improved to (6-0, 3-0 Big Ten) at the season’s halfway point. It has a bye next week before moving on to face Wisconsin.

Penn State’s Ryan Barker hits ‘Night Night’ celebration after hitting game-winning OT field goal vs. USC

All Ryan Barker was thinking about as he sized up his game-winning field goal attempt in overtime against USC was celebrating, he said. And celebrate he did.

After knocking in his fourth field goal in four tries to give his Penn State squad a 33-30 road win to stay undefeated, Barker was quick on the trigger with his celebration, hitting the “Night Night” celebration, one that’s been recently commonly associated with Steph Curry. It was a move he was quite ready for, he said to CBS sideline reporter Jenny Dell postgame.

“You know, all week during practice, we visual these types of moments, so all I felt was how I’m ready to celebrate after I make it,” Barker said.

Ryan Barker hit the "Night Night" after kicking the winner pic.twitter.com/JZ2NXOHDY2

— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) October 12, 2024

On3’s Andrew Graham contributed to this report.