The narrative surrounding the Penn State soccer program and head coach James Franklin is identical because it has at all times been. The Nittany Lions are an excellent group that may constantly beat up on the NCAA’s and Massive Ten’s second-and-third-tier applications. Then, they get outplayed, outcoached and outclassed by the elites.
It occurred once more on Saturday in a 38-25 Peach Bowl loss to Ole Miss, dropping Penn State to 10-3 on the season.
The losses have been in opposition to Michigan, Ohio State and Ole Miss. Truthfully, these have been the one three video games anyone in Blissful Valley cared about.
In the event you wished to be beneficiant to Penn State on Saturday you might pretty level out how bowl recreation opt-outs damage them. They have been down a number of starters on protection, most notably a possible top-five choose in left sort out Olu Fashanu. These absences actually put a dent within the group’s lineup and it was removed from what the Nittany Lions would have on the sector with a completely stocked roster. Towards a No. 11 ranked group, that’s clearly an issue.
But it surely was removed from the one drawback for Penn State, and Saturday was not the primary time Franklin and his group had come up small in a giant setting. It’s actually what they’ve grow to be identified for. For the reason that begin of the 2018 season, Penn State is simply 6-18 in opposition to ranked opponents and has principally underachieved given the preseason expectations.
Saturday’s recreation highlighted all the flaws which have existed with Penn State’s offense all season and have haunted Franklin in huge video games.
Quarterback Drew Allar was alarmingly inconsistent. There was nearly no try and push the soccer downfield (a continuing criticism of Allar and the Penn State offense all season), and he didn’t full a go to a large receiver till the fourth quarter. Nearly every thing went to the tight ends and working backs.
Much more regarding is simply how conservative Franklin turned along with his teaching in huge conditions, a calling card for his profession shortcomings. There have been two evident examples that stood out as potential game-changing moments.
Down by six factors late within the third quarter, he was dealing with a fourth-and-one on the Penn State 40-yard line. As a substitute of trying to go for it, he punted the ball away to Ole Miss which promptly marched down the sector to attain a landing to make it a two-score recreation.
Simply a few sequence later Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin confirmed the distinction in each coaches when he confronted an almost equivalent state of affairs — solely in his case he had the lead — when he went for it on a fourth-and-one from the identical spot on the sector and transformed to increase his group’s drive.
Within the fourth quarter, with Penn State trailing by two touchdowns with 11 minutes to play, Franklin opted to attempt a 55-yard area objective on a fourth-and-17 state of affairs. The sector objective was blocked, giving Ole Miss a brief area. Ole Miss was capable of convert, scoring one other landing to all however put the sport away.
Whereas the fourth-and-17 conversion may need been a low-percentage play, a profitable area objective would have nonetheless left Penn State down a number of scores. Of all of the attainable choices he may have made there, the sector objective was most likely the least good selection.
The opt-outs positively performed a task in Penn State’s consequence. However Franklin did nothing to place the gamers who did present up in the very best positions to win. This can be a storyline that repeats yearly. There’s a wonderful line in sports activities between being an excellent group and an important group, and Franklin retains discovering himself on the fallacious facet of it.
