Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/929717
ames Franklin was not a happy man at halftime of the Fiesta Bowl. His Nittany Lions had a two- touchdown lead at the time, but it had been a three-touchdown lead before a botched pitch intended for Miles Sanders ended up on the turf and even- tually in the arms of linebacker Ryan Bowman, setting up a Washington score just when it appeared that Penn State was on the verge of turning the game into a rout. And that wasn't even the worst part. As he explained to ESPN sideline reporter Tom Luginbill before heading into the locker room, "After our first touchdown, Trace McSorley punched me in the ribs, and they're killing me right now." That apparently wasn't an exaggera- tion. After tossing a 48-yard scoring pass to DaeSean Hamilton in the first quarter, McSorley had doled out one of the game's more devastating blows when he returned to the sideline and, eschewing the customary high-five, put his forearm into Franklin's breadbasket and sent him sprawling backward. The blow was violent enough to elicit a brief look of concern from running back Mark Allen, who was standing be- hind Franklin at the time. It was also violent enough to remind you that the player-coach relationship is not what it used to be at Penn State and probably not what it is at most other places. The faces of the sport right now at its highest levels are Bill Belichick and Nick Saban, two men who embody the old-school concept of the coach as a grim, implacable authority figure. There is, of course, a lot to be said for grim implacability. Belichick has won five Super Bowls, and Saban just claimed his sixth national champi- onship with Alabama's overtime victory over Georgia. They may sometimes make the game look like a joyless trudge, but it's hard to argue with their results. Still, there's more than one way to run a football program, and Franklin's bois- terous, heart-on-sleeve style is working for him – and for the Nittany Lions. Yes, his teams can be streaky and mercurial. They don't always react well when the momentum starts swinging in the other direction, and the Fiesta Bowl was a case in point; they should have won it by two or three touchdowns instead of needing to get a stop on Washington's last frantic lateral play. But whatever their faults, they always play with a The Lions are getting results, and they're having fun doing it. Can they keep the party going into next season? A T T H E 2 0 1 8 N I T T A N Y L I O N S PRIDE AND JOY J