James Franklin Appreciation Thread

[Huntr]

 

[thekid33]

Personally, I celebrate James Franklin's entire catalogue of losses and excuses and hope that Penn State allows him to keep playing the hits for many 10 win years to come.

If you could guarantee me that they would fuck up the replacement and become Iowa, or worse, I would sign up immediately.

But, I can live with them never getting over the hump and their fans melting down 2-3 times a season.

 

[Jeffwantpoppers]

The loss of Tyler Warren wasn’t factored in enough coming in to the season

 

[Huntr]

The loss of Tyler Warren wasn’t factored in enough coming in to the season

and Abdul Carter

 

[InKellyWeTrust]

and Abdul Carter

And still having James Franklin and Drew Allar

 

[Me2SouthBend]

Did anyone see the sequence leading into half in that game yesterday? Some of the worst clock management by JF you’ll ever see. What a fucking moron. There’s a tweet or Reel out there showing it and the announcers are dumbfounded.

 

[allenm5333]

I just don't understand how people thought they would be better losing Warren and Carter. Was absurd

 

[Dizzyphil]

Did anyone see the sequence leading into half in that game yesterday? Some of the worst clock management by JF you’ll ever see. What a fucking moron. There’s a tweet or Reel out there showing it and the announcers are dumbfounded.

I watched 12 seasons of the same shit from BK... don't need to see another idiot doing it.

 

[SDIrishFan]

I just don't understand how people thought they would be better losing Warren and Carter. Was absurd

To be fair, a lot of us have done this with our defense from last year to this year.

 

[Me2SouthBend]

I watched 12 seasons of the same shit from BK... don't need to see another idiot doing it.

It’s not us. It’s fun to watch.

 

[Rudy89]

I don’t like Franklin but he has a lot of accomplishments he can hang his hat on. Way more accomplishments than BK currently does with playoff wins & ny6/playoff bowl wins.

 

[IrishSpartan]

I never want Franklin to leave PSU. To easy to get crazy talent there. As a PA resident I can’t deal with the cult being happy for once.

 

[Dizzyphil]

 

[NDFAN2008]

F Penn State they totaled smack all offseason saying they had the best coaching staff in America same with USC I think that still belongs to us even with Ash. They also talked shit saying they had the best roster best DL, best OL best running back room and even went as far to say Seider wasn’t even that good of a recruiter 😂

 

[Irish Norseman]

 

[ab2cmiller]

This reply to the tweet pretty sums up what happened to me. LOL

 

[ColinKSU]

View attachment 3060376

Nasty work

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

This is worse than losing to Marshall and Northern Illinois.

Statistically, historically, where these two teams were going into the game....it's about as bad of a loss as you can experience as a head coach and program.

So there's that.

 

[Irish#1]

the AP and ESPN had Texas #1 and PSU #2 in the preseason poll. I don't remember both the #1 & #2 preseason favorites being dropped out of the polls like this. Any of you nerds care to research if this has happened before?

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

I don’t like Franklin but he has a lot of accomplishments he can hang his hat on. Way more accomplishments than BK currently does with playoff wins & ny6/playoff bowl wins.

No there isn't.

There's the 2016 season. That's it. That's all he's ever accomplished. The highest he's ever finished at PSU is 5th.

 

[Mattmags]

the AP and ESPN had Texas #1 and PSU #2 in the preseason poll. I don't remember both the #1 & #2 preseason favorites being dropped out of the polls like this. Any of you nerds care to research if this has happened before?

exactly why ranking teams before week 5 is stupid. Just a money grab by corporate America to advertise top matchups and draw viewership. And it can possibly skew end of year bowl and playoff matchups because voters have a "memory that team A was once really good and maybe still is".

 

[Me2SouthBend]

exactly why ranking teams before week 5 is stupid. Just a money grab by corporate America to advertise top matchups and draw viewership. And it can possibly skew end of year bowl and playoff matchups because voters have a "memory that team A was once really good and maybe still is".

Agree wholeheartedly. Not to mention Arch being a preseason Heisman favorite. Total horseshit.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

At this point, Franklin himself is the even bigger storyline, however. It’s the worst loss of his career and Penn State's worst in many years, but that doesn’t really cover it. Actually, it may be the most brutal regular-season loss any head coach has taken in at least 18 years, if you’ll let me make my case.

• From 1980 through 2024, just seven teams ranked AP No. 7 or better at kickoff lost to opponents that went on to win three games or fewer in a full-length season. UCLA likely still fits the latter bill, so Penn State likely just joined this club. Mix in that this L came seven days after Franklin’s latest big-game heartbreak essentially knocked Penn State out of the Big Ten race, and I think it’s far worse than any of the others in that list.
  
  
• Just to draw a connection between what Penn State did and one of the losses on that list, though: Yesterday, the Bruins became the first 0-4 or worse team to beat a top-10 opponent since 40 years ago, when 0-6 UTEP beat reigning national champ BYU.
  
  
• Other contenders for the title of worst loss? There have been bigger upsets, sure, but we need to consider emotional devastation, not just point spreads. I nominate Rich Rodriguez’s No. 2 West Virginia losing the last game of 2007's regular season to 4-7 Pitt as the last face plant that was actually worse than what Penn State did yesterday, because it was a rivalry upset and knocked WVU directly out of the BCS title game. (Since I know someone will mention it, the App State-Michigan upset was before then. Plus, FCS dynasty App State was a much better team than 2025 UCLA.)

Jason Kirk and Alex Kirschner of The Athletic.

So, yeah. Worse than Marshall and Northern Illinois.

 

[SportsingHard]

No there isn't.

There's the 2016 season. That's it. That's all he's ever accomplished. The highest he's ever finished at PSU is 5th.

He took a 2-10 Vandy program to a bowl in his first year, then to consecutive Top 25 finishes. Best coach at Vandy since they joined the SEC nearly 100 years ago.

At PSU, he has a 10-win season, 4 11-win seasons, and a 13-win season.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

He took a 2-10 Vandy program to a bowl in his first year, then to consecutive Top 25 finishes. Best coach at Vandy since they joined the SEC nearly 100 years ago.

At PSU, he has a 10-win season, 4 11-win seasons, and a 13-win season.

He has one Big Ten Championship.

And a $50M buyout.

 

[Rudy89]

No there isn't.

There's the 2016 season. That's it. That's all he's ever accomplished. The highest he's ever finished at PSU is 5th.

3 NY6 bowl wins, a Playoff win, & a win in the Fiesta bowl in the playoffs. BK has a national title game appearance where (just being real) he was outclassed along with our boys, a blowout loss in the Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State, & two playoff losses both of which were blowouts. If you took the names off and told me to pick between two coaches I’d go with Franklin’s resume over Kelly.

That isn’t to say that I like him, that isn’t me saying that I feel he is an elite level coach. I see a guy who has won a few big bowls when those meant more & won in the playoffs over a coach who every time he was in a big bowl when they meant something & in the playoffs his teams were outmatched and out coached. I’m picking the giant douche over the turd sandwich.

 

[SportsingHard]

He has one Big Ten Championship.

And a $50M buyout.

Yep. I was just responding to the claim that he'd never accomplished anything outside of 2016.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

3 NY6 bowl wins, a Playoff win, & a win in the Fiesta bowl in the playoffs. BK has a national title game appearance where (just being real) he was outclassed along with our boys, a blowout loss in tne Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State, & two playoff losses both of which were blowouts. If you took the names off and told me to pick between two coaches I’d go with Franklin’s resume over Kelly. That isn’t to say that I like him, that isn’t me saying that I feel he is an elite level coach. I see a guy who has won a few big bowls when those meant more & won in the playoffs over a coach who every time he was in a big bowl when they meant something & in the playoffs his teams were outmatched and out coached. I’m picking the giant douche over the turd sandwich.

I'm not comparing Franklin to Kelly. Knock yourself out. The standard Franklin should be held to should probably be, and likely is, higher than comping him to Brian Kelly.

James Franklin, for the money he's being paid and the infrastructure he has at his program, has left a tremendous amount to be desired. One Big Ten Championship. He's 8-7 in bowl games. He can't beat Ohio State or Michigan.

I'm not really sure what any of it has to do with Brian Kelly and why that's relevant, but prop him up against the previous ND head coach if that's the thing. I'll take your word for it.

James Franklin is a No Show for when it matters. He blamed the travel to Los Angeles on the loss to UCLA. Dude's a bum. He had a reputation as being a....surprise surprise....good recruiter. On the day of the week that matters, when it really matters, he's a No Show.

 

[Rudy89]

I'm not comparing Franklin to Kelly. Knock yourself out. The standard Franklin should be held to should probably be, and likely is, higher than comping him to Brian Kelly.

James Franklin, for the money he's being paid and the infrastructure he has at his program, has left a tremendous amount to be desired. One Big Ten Championship. He's 8-7 in bowl games. He can't beat Ohio State or Michigan.

I'm not really sure what any of it has to do with Brian Kelly and why that's relevant, but prop him up against the previous ND head coach if that's the thing. I'll take your word for it.

James Franklin is a No Show for when it matters. He blamed the travel to Los Angeles on the loss to UCLA. Dude's a bum. He had a reputation as being a....surprise surprise....good recruiter. On the day of the week that matters, when it really matters, he's a No Show.

That’s what my original post was that you quoted, maybe you should be the one knocking yourself out

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

That’s what my original post was that you quoted, maybe you should be the one knocking yourself out

I'm actually free around 2 today.

Franklin's record speaks for itself, regardless of Brian Kelly. Hard to carry water for a guy who has one conference championship and an abysmal record in games that matter. He's just lost one of the more embarrassing games anyone has ever lost.

I'll take Kelly over Franklin.