Blue White Illustrated

But at arguably the game's most critical point, with Michigan having just com- pleted a seven-play, 65-yard touchdown possession bridging the third and fourth quarters, it was two veterans who pre- vented the momentum from getting away. Starting the ensuing possession at its 25 after the Wolverines had cut their deficit to 20-17, Penn State got a key completion on third-and-3, with Clifford throwing to Dotson for a crucial 12-yard pickup. The conversion, from an offense that had been middling at best on third down to that point in the season, sparked what would become a 12-play, 75-yard touch- down drive capped by a 2-yard score by Will Levis. Then the defense delivered. Facing an injured Cade McNamara at quarterback, Penn State blitzed cornerback Daequan Hardy off the edge on third-and-10. Hardy slammed into McNamara's blind side, knocking the ball loose and setting off a chase as it rolled toward the Michi- gan sideline. Shaka Toney made a seem- ingly heads-up play by swatting the ball back toward Jayson Oweh for the recov- ery, but the apparent change of posses- sion was undone when referee Larry Smith ruled "illegal batting." Smith's call returned the ball to the Wolverines, giving them a first down in Penn State territory. "I didn't understand it, but I don't think really anybody cares if I understood. It's all about the ref and him making the call," defensive tackle P.J. Mustipher said. "That's the game of football. That's life. Something's going to happen, and you've just got to adjust." Just as the offense had done earlier, the defense shed its demons and found a way to make key plays. With the Wolverines facing third down for the third time on the drive, PSU stuffed Hassan Haskins for a 1-yard gain. Then, on fourth-and-1, the Lions slammed the door shut on 6-foot- 5, 243-pound Wolverines quarterback Joe Milton, ending the threat. "We battled and we made plays when we needed to make plays. It's hard to stop people on fourth-and-inches, and we did that," Franklin said. "We just played gutsy. That's who we've been. There were just so many examples today of who we've been for seven years now. We found ways to do it today. In the earlier games, we didn't do that, but we made a play when we needed to make a play." MOMENT NO. 3 FRANKLIN'S PRESSERS NOV. 10/11 At the start of his Nov. 10 news confer- ence, which was conducted, like all of his Tuesday pressers in 2020, from the podium of an empty Beaver Stadium media room with reporters watching re- motely, Franklin acknowledged that he was expecting some tough questions. He added that tough questions were fair and warranted. Franklin said he understood the need for an honest conversation and accountabil- ity, and he understood, too, that he had to provide answers without alienating the student-athletes, coaching colleagues and personnel within the program. "The fine line for me as the head coach is that I never want to be a guy who comes up here and feels like I'm making ex- cuses," he said. "I never want to do that with the media. I never want to do that with the fans. I never want to do that with the administration, the boosters, the let- termen, anybody. Ultimately, we're re- sponsible for what we put out there on the field and everything that comes with that, and I'm responsible. "I'm going to lead with love. You have to be very careful in times like this, because you guys ask fair, tough questions. But the way I respond to those questions I want to make sure [isn't] divisive for our team and our coaching staff. I'm just going to continue to lead how I've always led, and that's with love." By the 32nd minute of his 41-minute session with the media, that inner con- flict had taken its toll. Exchanging pleas- antries with this reporter, Franklin allowed for the brutal reality of the mo- ment in a woefully off-track season to spill through the wall of measured lead- ership he'd built up. "Hey James, how are you?" "Good, Nate, how are you?" "Good." As he listened to the question, which pertained to turnovers, Franklin quickly interrupted to clarify his prior answer. "Let me say this: I shouldn't have said that. I wouldn't necessarily say I'm good," he said. "All things considered, again, blessed and good, but that's probably not an honest answer." As "moments" that defined Penn State's 2020 season go, this might have been the most representative. Franklin's team had been through the wringer. It had lost All-America linebacker Micah Par- sons in August, had been forced to play without running back Journey Brown for reasons that had yet to be disclosed and had lost Brown's replacement, Noah Cain, to a season-ending foot injury on the team's first offensive possession of the year. Now, the losses were starting to pile up, and the team's on-field problems compounded the personal difficulties that Franklin was going through with his family remaining in Florida to protect his immunocompromised daughter. Saying that he had "not done a great job of man- aging" his family being separated, he painted a picture of an all-encompassing struggle. "They are my fuel. I go home, they're able to pour into me, and I have not done a great job of that," he said. "At the end of the day, I have to manage those things. I've got to come to work. I've got to do a great job. But it's all of it. … I think there are some things that we've done a really good job of, but at the end of the day, this press conference and this meeting and these questions are about football. And right now, we have not played winning football." It was a candid moment, but what he didn't mention was that another huge blow to the team was just around the cor- ner. Although Brown's condition had been understood to be serious, Franklin had previously maintained that options were still being explored that might allow the redshirt junior to return to action in 2020. But when he met with the media after practice on Nov. 11, Franklin delivered the >>

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