Penn State's James Franklin gets outcoached in another big game

The narrative surrounding the Penn State football program and head coach James Franklin is the same as it has always been. The Nittany Lions are a very good team that can consistently beat up on the NCAA's and Big Ten's second-and-third-tier programs. Then, they get outplayed, outcoached and outclassed by the elites. 

It happened again on Saturday in a 38-25 Peach Bowl loss to Ole Miss, dropping Penn State to 10-3 on the season. 

The losses were against Michigan, Ohio State and Ole Miss. Honestly, these were the only three games anybody in Happy Valley cared about. 

If you wanted to be generous to Penn State on Saturday you could fairly point out how bowl game opt-outs hurt them. They were down several starters on defense, most notably a potential top-five pick in left tackle Olu Fashanu. Those absences certainly put a dent in the team's lineup and it was far from what the Nittany Lions would have on the field with a fully stocked roster. Against a No. 11 ranked team, that is obviously a problem.

But it was far from the only problem for Penn State, and Saturday was not the first time Franklin and his team had come up small in a big setting. It is literally what they have become known for. Since the start of the 2018 season, Penn State is just 6-18 against ranked opponents and has mostly underachieved given the preseason expectations. 

Saturday's game highlighted all of the flaws that have existed with Penn State's offense all season and have haunted Franklin in big games.

Quarterback Drew Allar was alarmingly inconsistent. There was almost no attempt to push the football downfield (a constant criticism of Allar and the Penn State offense all season), and he did not complete a pass to a wide receiver until the fourth quarter. Almost everything went to the tight ends and running backs. 

Even more concerning is just how conservative Franklin became with his coaching in big situations, a calling card for his career shortcomings. There were two glaring examples that stood out as potential game-changing moments.

Down by six points late in the third quarter, he was facing a fourth-and-one at the Penn State 40-yard line. Instead of attempting to go for it, he punted the ball away to Ole Miss which promptly marched down the field to score a touchdown to make it a two-score game. 

Just a couple of series later Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin showed the difference in both coaches when he faced a nearly identical situation -- only in his case he had the lead -- when he went for it on a fourth-and-one from the same spot on the field and converted to extend his team's drive.

In the fourth quarter, with Penn State trailing by two touchdowns with 11 minutes to play, Franklin opted to try a 55-yard field goal on a fourth-and-17 situation. The field goal was blocked, giving Ole Miss a short field. Ole Miss was able to convert, scoring another touchdown to all but put the game away. 

While the fourth-and-17 conversion might have been a low-percentage play, a successful field goal would have still left Penn State down multiple scores. Of all the possible decisions he could have made there, the field goal was probably the least sensible choice. 

The opt-outs definitely played a role in Penn State's outcome. But Franklin did nothing to put the players who did show up in the best positions to win. This is a storyline that repeats every year. There is a fine line in sports between being a very good team and a great team, and Franklin keeps finding himself on the wrong side of it.