James Franklin Says Penn State Is in 'Total Control' of the Narrative This Season

The "narrative" following Penn State football

What drives the "narrative"? Penn State's performances in games against the highest-ranked teams. The Nittany Lions have not lost a regular-season game to a team other than Ohio State or Michigan since 2021. According to OddsShark, Penn State is 28-2 in its last 30 games as a favorite.

Yet Franklin's record vs. Ohio State (1-10), his record vs. AP top-10 teams (4-19) and his record vs. those teams when Penn State is ranked in the top 10 (3-10) has become a defining characteristic. This Penn State team begins the season as the Big Ten favorite, according to the Cleveland.com media poll, and likely will receive first-place votes in the Associated Press preseason poll.

"I've talked about a little bit with coach Franklin and [offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki], and for us, we definitely need to get over that hump, there's no question about it," Penn State quarterback Drew Allar said. "But we've also been one of the most consistent programs over his tenure ... so our process has been working, but we definitely need to find different ways to come out with different results in those games."

As he often does, Franklin cited history to provide context to Penn State's arc since he became head coach in 2014. "There's got to be balance with both of those conversations," Franklin said.

"There's a lot of coaches that I know, that get talked about, and when they took over [their] job, they were ranked No. 2 in the country, they were ranked No. 5 in the country when they took the job, they ranked No. 10 in the country when they took the job," Franklin said. "We weren't ranked in the top 25, and there were a lot of things that we had to overcome. So to think that we're back in this position, and there's these types of conversations going on, and we've been one of the most consistent programs in the country over the last nine years, I'm extremely proud and I'm extremely confident. But again, there is complete recognition and embracing what we got to do and where we got to go."

"Can't control the past"

The stat that probably incites Franklin most is his 1-15 record vs. AP top-5 teams. Most of those losses were to Ohio State and Michigan. They also include all three losses from the 2024 season. Franklin autotuned the answer, acknowledging and moving on.

"Can't control the past, excited about about the future," Franklin said. "I also respect and appreciate that we're one of those programs that they're having that conversation about. Yeah, we're excited about what we're going to be able to do this year, and the steps that we're going to be able to take. We've had a program that 99 percent of the programs in the country would die to have and love to have, but there's obviously room for growth."