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Ficken thrilled the Penn State fans in Yankee Stadium with a 45-yard field goal to force overtime, and then he won it with a PAT following a Kyle Carter touchdown reception. The 2015 season also featured a come- back, relatively speaking, as the Lions overcame a fourth-quarter deficit and held on to defeat Maryland, 31-30. And yet, something about that game at Vanderbilt, a program he rarely refer- ences by choice, clicked for Franklin. Make no mistake, that he chose to talk about that game, in that moment, wasn't an accident. "I've been a part of some unbelievable comebacks before," Franklin said follow- ing the Minnesota game. "I don't know if I've been a part of a first half, then a second half, then overtime like it was tonight." That first half was as bad as de- scribed, if not worse. The visiting Go- phers outgained Penn State handily, building up a 258-171 advantage in total yards en route to a 13-3 lead. The Lions' slow start represented the continuation of a discouraging trend, one that Franklin readily acknowledged. "We have got to start faster, there is no doubt about it," he said. "That has been a thing all along. I've seen us battle and play really well in the second half. Maybe not enough to swing the game, but it was like two completely different games." The Lions' revival began with what ap- peared to be another dead-on-arrival third-and-long play. With many in the crowd no doubt braced for a sack or in- completion, redshirt sophomore quar- terback Trace McSorley instead stepped up in the pocket and delivered a pass over the middle to Irvin Charles, who broke a tackle and romped 80 yards for a game-changing score. Not only was it Penn State's first touchdown of the af- ternoon, it was also the Nittany Lions' first converted third down, ending an 0- for-8 streak while simultaneously invig- orating a lethargic crowd. The Lions went on to take the lead, then lost it late in the fourth quarter, only to tie the score in the final seconds and eventually win in overtime. In rally- ing from behind three times, the team showed that it had learned from its diffi- cult 42-39 loss at Pitt in week two, a game in which its comeback bid fell just short. The Nittany Lions hadn't been able to put everything together against the Panthers, but they did in their win over Minnesota. "This was a game that we can really grow from," Franklin said. "There are a lot of things, obviously, that we have to get cleaned up, but the most important thing is that these guys believe in them- selves and believe in what we're doing and how we're doing it." Franklin's confidence was proven right the very next week. Home underdogs to previously un- beaten Maryland, the Nittany Lions started quickly, withstood some self-in- flicted wounds, and went on to rout the Terrapins. They led 24-14 at halftime and tacked on two more touchdowns to finish off a 38-14 stomping of their border rival. To a man, the Lions asserted that the carryover from their win against Min- nesota was a very real, very important factor in their performance against Maryland. "That overtime win was defi- nitely a big deal," offensive lineman Brendan Mahon said. "Momentum is a big thing in college football, and getting that rolling and starting up a two-game winning streak obviously helps a lot." At Vanderbilt six seasons ago, Franklin inherited a program with no winning tra- dition. The expectations were very dif- ferent from those at Penn State, but a game that in previous years might have gone down as a loss instead went into the win column for the Commodores that night against Connecticut. They went on to finish the regular season at 6-6 and advanced to the Liberty Bowl, where they lost to Cincinnati, 31-24. They struggled in the Southeastern Confer- ence, winning only two of eight league

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