Penn State football: James Franklin says Joe Lorig is 'being pursued,' addresses fake punt call in first half
Penn State Nittany Lions football coach James Franklin said after Saturday’s Outback Bowl loss to Arkansas that special teams coordinator Joe Lorig is “being pursued.”
Bruce Feldman of The Athletic reported interest from Oregon in Lorig, and Franklin did not deny that interest when asked about it on Saturday.
“I’m not gonna address that right now,” Franklin said. “Obviously, he is being pursued. I think you guys know that. That information has been out in the public. We’ll see how that plays out.
“There’s a lot of things that factor into this, as you guys could imagine. Some professional and some personal. But we’ll see how that goes.”
Lorig just completed his third season at the helm of Penn State’s special teams unit.
The Nittany Lions excelled in some aspects of the third phase of the game this season.
In particular, their punt game proved to be a major asset. Punter Jordan Stout won the Big Ten’s punter of the year award. Stout, a touchback machine, also helped the Nittany Lions stay out of trouble on kickoffs.
But Lorig himself was critical of what the Nittany Lions did in the return game, where they never made much of a difference.
Penn State also proved unreliable kicking field goals. Stout was only 16 for 23 as a field goal kicker despite his punting excellence. He also missed two extra points.
Jake Pinegar, who lost out on his role kicking shorter field goals to Stout, did not appear until the final game of the regular season, when he hit a PAT against Michigan State. He missed a 50-yard field-goal attempt against Arkansas on Saturday.
Franklin has long expressed a desire to retain his assistant coaches, especially if they’d be making a lateral move.
He did, however, acknowledge that external factors could play their part in this particular case.
“I think you guys know I’ve been pretty adamant in the past about the type of moves, and lateral moves,” Franklin said. “But I think there’s also some factors when it comes to where guys are from. Both Joe and his wife are from [Oregon] so that factors into this thing as well.”
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Penn State fake punt ends in disaster
Saturday wasn’t a banner day for the Penn State special teams unit, thanks in large part to an ugly-looking fake punt attempt.
Up 14-10 in the waning moments of the second half, Penn State’s drive stalled in Arkansas territory. Rather than attempt a long field goal, it appeared Franklin had elected to punt.
But the Nittany Lions emerged from a timeout in a bizarre punt formation, which led to Stout heaving up a pass into the end zone with no one in a Penn State uniform around.
The pass was smartly allowed to fall to the turf by the Arkansas defender, giving the Razorbacks the ball at their 36-yard line.
They moved into Penn State territory, but Ji’Ayir Brown’s second interception of the half bailed the Nittany Lions out.
“It was a 54-yard field goal, we didn’t feel good about kicking it,” Franklin said. “We had a fake in the game plan. I felt like in that situation, we’d either get a pass interference call. Or, I was hoping that they’d catch the interception, which would have been as good as a punt.”
