The Penn State Nittany Lions are once again facing questions after failing to win against a top-tier Big Ten opponent.
Penn State suffered a 20-13 loss at home to the Buckeyes on Saturday, the latest in a long line of failures against top opposition under coach James Franklin. Saturday’s loss dropped Franklin to 1-13 against top five teams according to the AP poll, and was marked by repeated failures in the red zone. In four red zone trips, the Nittany Lion offense came away with two field goals and two empty drives.
For Penn State fans, the biggest failure was arguably the team’s failure to score a touchdown from the Ohio State 2-yard line while trailing by seven in the fourth quarter. The Nittany Lions were stuffed on three runs, then had a pass attempt broken up on fourth down. After the game, FOX Sports analyst Brady Quinn went off on Penn State’s offensive play-calling during that sequence, calling out Franklin and offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki for not doing more to involve star tight end Tyler Warren.
“That play-calling, to me, was atrocious,” Quinn said on the FOX postgame show. “Tyler Warren had 88 scrimmage yards in the second half and is not targeted once in four plays? He got you down there with a 33-yard rush and you don’t have one touch for him? I’m beside myself for Penn State fans for that reason.”
Warren had four catches for 47 yards in Saturday’s loss to go with three carries for 47 yards. Penn State’s decision not to deploy him in a crucial goal line spot is strange, to say the least.
Franklin’s reputation for losing games like this is only getting stronger. It hardly helps that these sorts of in-game issues are not new either, which only reinforces the negative reputation.
