James Franklin, Penn State come up roses

Penn State head coach James Franklin stood on the podium Saturday night, his Nittany Lions victorious with a 38-31 come-from-behind win against the Wisconsin Badgers in the Big Ten Championship Game, head held high, almost defiant in his post-game remarks.

“Let’s stop talking about 2-2, and let’s start talking about the last nine games.”

He might as well have been saying, “Let’s stop talking about the past two years, and let’s start talking about right now.”

You see, just a few short months ago, Franklin was getting heat from all around. In his first two seasons as Penn State’s head coach, his team went an uninspired 7-6 each year, a slew of painful performances mixed among the 12 losses and even among the 14 victories. He was no Bill O’Brien, his predecessor who helped hold together a university in turmoil and now roams the sidelines for the Houston Texans, and he certainly was no Joe Paterno — and Penn State students, fans and alumni let him know.

I was among them, an ardent opposer to Franklin as the head man. I called him a snake-oil salesman. I called him a great recruiter who couldn’t actually do anything with the recruits he brought in. I called him an inferior coach, certainly not a man who could compete with the Meyers, Harbaughs and Dantonios that make up not just his conference, but his division.

I was wrong. We were all wrong. After two mediocre seasons and a talented NFL prospect under center who didn’t fit what Franklin wanted to do, PSU’s coach didn’t panic. He made changes. After defensive coordinator Bob Shoop, who did a tremendous job with Penn State’s defense, departed for Tennessee, he tabbed Brent Pry as his replacement, a man who molded a defense that was ravaged by injury at linebacker and inexperience up front into a formidable group. With the offense sputtering, he moved on from John Donovan as offensive coordinator, bringing in Joe Moorhead, a man with a creative mind who would become key in this team turning the corner.

Of course, things didn’t start out smelling like roses. In just the second game of the year, the Nittany Lions lost a shootout at Pitt, followed that up with an uninspired home victory against Temple and then got absolutely trounced by Michigan, 49-10, in the Big House. The wheels were spinning, and Franklin’s seat wasn’t just hot — it was leaving burns on his behind.

Then, everything changed with one simple move. Trailing 13-3 at halftime to Minnesota, Penn State scored 17 points in the third quarter on the strength of quarterback Trace McSorley’s arm and legs, not the reliable workhorse running back Saquon Barkley, who had been keyed on and stifled by every team in the early going.

Moorhead and Franklin unleashed McSorley’s legs, incorporating the read-option more and more, and the offense went from inconsistent to explosive. The team rallied for a 29-26 victory, and by letting McSorley use his dual-threat ability, things opened up for Barkley, a sophomore whose name will be getting all sorts of Heisman hype in his junior season.

From there, Penn State was off. McSorley and Barkley, along with a group of big, fast and talented wide receivers, overcame a shaky, injury-ravaged offensive line and kept fighting. They steamrolled Maryland, then got the biggest win of Franklin’s Penn State career by defeating Ohio State in a stunner. The Buckeyes bullied Penn State, but 17 unanswered second-half points, sparked by a dominant second-half effort by the PSU defensive line, led to the stunning victory thanks to a Grant Haley blocked kick that was returned for a touchdown. Turns out, that return also returned the Nittany Lions to prominence.

No matter what obstacles the team faced — a rotating crew of offensive linemen, stud linebackers Jason Cabinda and Brandon Bell missing time, Barkley getting banged up — this team kept on fighting. The Lions often started slow, but they simply blew the doors of their opposition in each and every second half. From that Ohio State victory on, there was no more impressive team. Tied at 17 vs. Purdue at the half, the Nittany Lions scored 45 points in the second to win 62-24. They blew out an Iowa team that would knock off Michigan, 41-14; outscored Indiana 24-7 in the fourth quarter to win 45-31; shut out Rutgers 39-0; and after trailing 12-10 at halftime to Michigan State, scored 35 unanswered in the second half to blow out a Spartans team that gave a scare to Michigan and an even bigger scare to Ohio State, 45-12.

There simply was no quit in this team, and it showed on Saturday night. A disastrous start, including a snap over McSorley’s head that led to a touchdown and a questionable decision to go for it on an early fourth down, the Nittany Lions could have tucked their tails and gone home, down 28-7 with all momentum on the Badgers’ side. They didn’t. Instead, they calmly cut the deficit to 14 at half, then did what they’ve done all season — outlasted the opponent and beating them when it mattered most, another come-from-behind win to cap off an amazing season.

Sure, the players never said die. They made the plays. They did the hard work. But they took their lead from their head coach, a man who was behind but never gave up, a man who went from the hot seat to the top seat in the top conference in America.

I doubted James Franklin. A lot of people did. And I want to say I’m sorry, and I was wrong. James Franklin did as good of a coaching job as I can remember seeing this season, and he did it by never quitting, never giving up, never doubting himself even when everyone else around him did.

So when he stood on that podium, asking to hear all the accomplishments his team made one more time, James Franklin was letting everyone know what he knew all along: He is the man for the job, and he proved it when no one expected him or his team to.