James Franklin’s old team lost by 21 points Friday night without him on the sideline. His new team lost by two with him standing right there. One of those games is evidence Franklin was never the problem at Penn State. The other is evidence that hiring him doesn’t automatically fix anything either.
Both results landed the same Friday night, which is the only reason anyone’s talking about them together.
Northwestern put up 506 total yards in a 34-13 win over Penn State at the new Ryan Field, with running back Caleb Komolafe going for a career-high 188 yards and Rocco Becht throwing two interceptions for the Nittany Lions. Matt Campbell, hired specifically to be the coach Franklin wasn’t, didn’t bother spinning it afterward. He said the program lacked “the standard… the attitude, the effort, the toughness” in every way Friday night, and admitted he was putting plenty of that on himself. A coach who believed swapping out Franklin had solved his roster problems does not talk like that forty-five minutes after a 21-point loss.
Then there’s Virginia Tech, which is supposed to be the fixed version of this story.
The Hokies jumped out 14-0 on Pitt in the first quarter at Lane Stadium. Then four turnovers handed Pitt 21 unanswered points, a 35-24 lead, and a backup quarterback who looked perfectly comfortable doing the damage. Ethan Grunkemeyer threw for a career-high 434 yards just to pull Virginia Tech back to 35-33, and kicker John Love’s 36-yard attempt to win it as time expired hooked wide left.
That was Franklin’s first loss at Virginia Tech. It happened under a five-year, $41.75 million contract built to buy exactly what Penn State said it was missing: standards, discipline, toughness. Virginia Tech outgained Pitt 499 yards to 295 and still lost on a missed kick, which is either rotten luck or a program that hasn’t absorbed whatever Franklin is selling yet.
My mom doesn’t follow college football, and she still texted asking why Franklin’s old team and his new team lost on the same night. That’s the real story here, not vindication for Penn State and not sympathy for Virginia Tech.
Franklin’s own read on the loss leaned toward the turnovers, not the scheme. “Can’t turn the ball over four times,” he said. “There are 20 other plays throughout that game that really wouldn’t have gotten to that point.” He opened his postgame comments by thanking the fans:
https://twitter.com/SonsofSatVT/status/2106222080559636666
That’s a perfectly nice thing to say after outgaining an opponent by 200 yards and finding a way to lose anyway. It doesn’t change what both games actually proved.
Penn State didn’t need him gone. Virginia Tech didn’t need him here.
