James Franklin was understandably frustrated with the way Penn State lost to Ohio State on Saturday night, and his emotions boiled over when he was criticized by a fan while leaving the field.
Penn State blew a late lead against the Buckeyes, and Franklin and his coaching staff came under fire for calling an inside draw play on 4th-and-5 with just over a minute left. The Nittany Lions were trailing 27-26 at the time, and the play was stuffed for a turnover on downs and gave Ohio State the win.
As Franklin was heading to the locker room following the defeat, a Penn State fan shouted something at him that he didn’t like. He confronted the fan and needed to be restrained.
James Franklin had a heated exchange with a Penn State fan who wasn’t happy with the 4th down call. pic.twitter.com/FSc7B93SZj
— The Athletic CFB (@TheAthleticCFB) September 30, 2018
A different angle of the video showed that the fan said, “4th-and-5 you should have passed it coach, that was a bad call.” Franklin responded by saying “I appreciate your input,” but the remark clearly set him off. He later said he should have done a better job of controlling his emotions.
“At the end of the game, I had a heat of the moment exchange with one of the fans in our student section. I was frustrated with the end of the game and should not have reacted that way,” Franklin told Greg Pickel of PennLive.com. “We have the greatest fans in the country and I have the utmost respect for their passion for this program.”
You can understand why Franklin was running hot after his team blew the biggest game of the season, but the fan was right. Even Franklin acknowledged that Penn State made the wrong call on fourth down, though he was probably in no mood to have it thrown in his face.
