USA Today releases James Franklin’s final Coaches Poll ballot of 2023 college football season

The college football season has come to an end, and with that, the final rankings have come out. That includes the USA Today Coaches Poll, which released its final rankings for individual coaches to end the year. That includes Penn State head coach James Franklin.

There are plenty of interesting decisions throughout Franklin’s rankings. That includes his decision to rank Georgia and Alabama ahead of Texas, where he ranked Penn State, and where he placed each individual Big Ten team in these rankings.

So, here is the final Coaches Poll ballot from James Franklin for the 2023 college football season:

1. Michigan
2. Washington
3. Alabama
4. Georgia
5. Texas
6. Oregon
7. Florida State
8. Missouri
9. Ohio State
10. Mississippi
11. Penn State
12. LSU
13. Arizona
14. Notre Dame
15. Oklahoma
16. Tennessee
17. Iowa
18. Louisville
19. Oklahoma State
20. West Virginia
21. North Carolina State
22. Liberty
23. SMU
24. Tulane
25. Kansas State

James Franklin stuck with Michigan and Washington as his top two schools. Then, he went with Alabama and Georgia in the top four ahead of Texas. The Longhorns, of course, made the CFP ahead of Georgia and actually beat Alabama during the season, making their placement interesting. After that, Oregon ends up ahead of Florida State, despite two losses before their bowl game.

In the end, Franklin ranked his own Nittany Lions team 11th, right behind Ole Miss, their bowl opponent.

The Big Ten had four current members make Franklin’s rankings. Then, two future members, Washington and Oregon, also made the rankings. At 17th, the Iowa Hawkeyes were the lowest ranked team in the Big Ten, just behind their bowl opponent, Tennessee.

One snub that is interesting to note is Clemson, a team that won its final five games. On the other hand, a team like West Virginia being ranked by Franklin may raise some eyebrows after the Mountaineers came into the season with very low expectations.

James Franklin on Peach Bowl officiating

Penn State lost the Peach Bowl against Ole Miss and, after the game, James Franklin shared his thoughts on the officiating.

“I won’t get into all the details. I thought the officiating was less than desirable. That first drive, we have the field goal, we run a slant, we get turned around, but I’ll move on. I could list out a number of examples. That’s a big play in that game at a critical moment, starting out with a touchdown rather than a field goal is significant. But I’ll move on,” Franklin said.

“Specifically to the game, just too many moving parts with the staff and with the players against a good team. Too many moving parts, staff and players, to have the type of success that we wanted to have today.”