Big Game James Plays It Again

I take it all back. Penn State football coach “Big Game” James Franklin is a genius.

Tired of being panned for losing games vs. Top 10 opposition, Franklin has set about lowering expectations. It won’t take many more losses such as Saturday’s 42-37 defeat at the hands of previously winless UCLA to accomplish that.

Franklin seems intent on dropping the Penn State program to the point where any win is cause for jubilant celebration; tearing down the goal posts and rushing the field stuff. To repeat, the man’s a genius.

I was too foolish to anticipate this, and had the temerity to write earlier today that this was a game in which Penn State could name the final score.

Of course, I meant winning by a large margin and quieting the critics. But Franklin has been around long enough to have a 4-21 record vs. Top 10 opposition at Penn State. He knows he could win 16 consecutive games vs. Top 10 foes and still be under .500 for his career in such games at Penn State.

Franklin seemed resigned to it all after his latest big-game failure, losing to Oregon, admitting his shortcomings are not narrative, but facts.

Franklin seemingly has tried everything to remedy that – short of quitting. He’s changed players, assistant coaches, and for all we know pregame rituals. Yet the losses in big games dog him like the current government shutdown is dogging Democrats.

It is so much easier just to go with the flow. Continue to lose the big games, but add in losses to so-so teams, and even the terrible ones.

Lose, lose lose.

It’s not like Franklin doesn’t have job security. His contract runs for about 100 years, being extended repeatedly and his guaranteed salary is mammoth.

I saw some social media types wanting him fired on the tarmac of LA International, with many offering to take up a collection to raise the $58 million or so he still is owed contractually.

Relax, Nittany Nation, Franklin is yours and he’s going nowhere. Now that he’s had this epiphany, to lose as often as possible to lower expectations, you can expect more unpleasant afternoons such as today.

What a way Franklin picked to go on his new course of action. According to ESPN, this is the first time in 40 years a Top 10 team has lost to an 0-4 or worse opponent.

Franklin can’t make history in a positive way, but he has proven he can plumb historic depths.

Again, the man’s a genius. Just ask him.

He even has a new catch phrase for the school: “We WERE Penn State.”