UNIVERSITY PARK— Penn State beating West Virginia by 23 Saturday night didn’t surprise a lot of people.
The way it scored the game’s last touchdown did.
Usually, when teams punch it in the end zone with six seconds left, they either tied/won the game in spectacular fashion or lost.
Penn State won in convincing fashion, yet still scored a last-second touchdown via Beau Pribula’s five-yard rush. For Penn State fans, the touchdown was generally a good thing; an exclamation point on a win to start the year, a moment for Pribula, who scored his first touchdown, and, perhaps most importantly, a back door cover. Penn State was favored by 20.5.
For West Virginia fans, it was, eh, something else.
Classless move by James Franklin right there.
— Clark Johnson (@_jamesclark3_) September 3, 2023
James Franklin you are an absolute classless piece of shit and you always have been
— Matt Mitchell (@olboyunclemitch) September 3, 2023
You’re not wrong, but pretty classless. Wouldn’t expect much less from Franklin though.
— Kevin Holdsworth (@KHolds35) September 3, 2023
West Virginia coach Neal Brown didn’t specifically call out Franklin and certainly didn’t use any profanity in his post game press conference, but it was apparent that he wasn’t happy
“I wouldn’t have done it,” Brown said, “but it doesn’t bother me.”
What Brown said next will perhaps be most intriguing.
“Stuff like that comes back around.”
WVU won’t have a chance for revenge against PSU until late next August. The teams open up next season in Morgantown Aug. 21. It’s almost certain that Franklin will be back coaching Penn State.
Brown? Not so much.
The loss drops Brown to 22-26 overall. Brown has been the coach since 2019 and his only winning season came in the pandemic-themed 2020 season. Aside from that, there’s been a lot of disappointment.
Either way, Penn State won, and won convincingly. To no surprise, Mountaineer Nation doesn’t seem to be appreciating the Nittany Lions racking up more points in garbage time.
