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Paul Finebaum Thinks James Franklin's Ego Cost Penn State The Orange Bowl
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James Franklin had a chance to exercise his demons on Thursday night and lead Penn State to the national championship game. Instead, he came up short when it mattered most. 

With the Orange Bowl tied 24-24 late in the fourth quarter, Franklin put the football in Drew Allar's hands in hopes of winning the game. Unfortunately for Penn State, that decision backfired. Allar threw an inaccurate pass over the middle of the field that was intercepted by Notre Dame defensive back Christian Gray. A few plays later, Mitch Jeter made a game-winning field goal attempt for the Fighting Irish. 

During this Friday morning's edition of "Get Up," ESPN's Paul Finebaum ripped Franklin for making such a risky decision in the College Football Playoff semifinals. 

"It was a massive mistake. … And I know that’s easy to say after the fact, but you just laid it out. They had not gotten any production [from wide receivers]. And I just don’t understand what James Franklin was thinking," Finebaum said, via On3.

Finebaum then said Franklin may have been aggressive because he's tired of constantly losing the big game. 

"I think sometimes when you have the record that he does, you get tired of seeing it on Get Up, you get tired of hearing about it. So you do something out of character. It just baffled me why he would put such a high risk in a situation. You know, take a few shots but make them safe and go to overtime and try to win the game."

Franklin is currently 4-20 against AP top 10 teams as the head coach of the Nittany Lions. That's simply not going to cut it. 

Following last night's devastating loss, Franklin talked about his vision for Penn State. Let's just say he didn't win over a lot of people at the press conference. 

"We’ve got a throwback program with throwback uniforms," Franklin said. "It’s about the guys. I understand the portal and NIL are a part of college football and we’ll embrace that, but I want this to be more than transactional. I want it to be transformational."

Do you think Franklin will eventually change the narrative surrounding him?

This article first appeared on The Spun and was syndicated with permission.

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