Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/741084
SEEING IS BELIEVING here was a bit of uncertainty on the side- line as Penn State lined up to kick a 2eld goal during a game at Michigan last month in which it found itself trailing by four touchdowns early in the third quarter. But there was no uncertainty in the broadcast booth. "I don't get it," ABC play-by-play an- nouncer Dave Flemming said. "You're playing for cosmetics, not to try to win the game. You're down 28-0." The Nittany Lions had reached the 2-yard line against the fourth-ranked Wolverines, but they sent kicker Tyler Davis onto the 2eld when the drive stalled, and they kept him out there on fourth-and-goal a3er calling timeout to talk over whether to go for the touchdown. A3er Davis's 21-yard kick sailed through the uprights, analyst Brian Griese echoed Flem- ming's assessment. "Right now," he said, "it might be a little bit about optics." A3er the game, James Franklin accepted blame for wasting a timeout but not for the decision to settle for a 2eld goal. There were so many factors working against Penn State at that moment. They were playing on the road, against a top-2ve opponent, with a defensive two-deep that was rapidly becoming a one- deep due to a wave of injuries and plain old bad luck. Given all that, the coach's thinking was straightforward: Something was better than nothing. "We had a discussion, and everybody felt like we should take the points there," Franklin ex- plained. "There was a lot of time le3 in the half. If we were going to kick the 2eld goal, ob- viously we should have taken the penalty and kicked the 2eld goal. I second-guessed myself there, [whether to go] for a touchdown and try to get back in the game. But you [risk coming away with] no points. We didn't think that was the right thing to do." The Nittany Lions went on to lose, 49-10. Michigan forced a pair of late turnovers and pulled away in the fourth quarter, so regardless of whether the goal was to climb back into the game or just to minimize the margin of defeat, things didn't work out so well. But if it was the latter, if the Lions really were concerned about having a shutout loss scrolling across the ticker all night long, can you blame them? In a T The Lions have had their ups and downs, but a strong finish would make for a positive narrative as they continue to build