For Kirk Herbstreit, Penn State under James Franklin reminds him of another big time program under another Hall of Fame coach.
When Herbstreit played quarterback at Ohio State, his coach was a man named John Cooper.
Cooper is in the College Football Hall of Fame, having retired with 192 wins, a 68% win rate and nine conference championships between the Big Ten, Pac-10 and Missouri Valley Conference.
But he never won a national championship, and at Ohio State, went 2-10-1 against hated Michigan.
Franklin fell to 4-21 against Top 10 opponents at Penn State with this past Saturday’s 30-24 double-overtime loss to Oregon.
He’s also 1-10 against Ohio State.
“We played in an era with John Cooper,” Herbstreit said on the Nonstop Podcast with Joey Galloway. “We played for him, there was just a mental block He had a tough time beating Michigan in his entire tenure. At some point, it becomes mental. I wonder, with Penn State and James Franklin, I haven’t seen them often blown out in any of these losses. I always feel like they’re right there, which makes it hard. I know, when you look at the numbers, it’s hard to say, ‘hey, it’s eventually, it’s going to bounce, it’s going to fall their way.’”
AGREEMENT FROM GALLOWAY
Galloway, who also played for Cooper, agreed with his co-host.
“Let’s not make a mistake,” he said of Franklin’s mindset in big games. “And it felt the same when we were playing. And you mentioned it. It was that we were so tight. ‘We don’t want to mess this up. We don’t want to make a mistake. We’re going to play it close to the vest, and if we have to punt, we have to punt. And that’s fine.’”
Galloway then compared Franklin’s approach with how Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer approached Georgia.
“It felt like Kalen DeBoer and Alabama came out and said ‘hey, guys, see this whole playbook, it’s all available. They threw one too an offensive lineman. You understand the difference and the feeling in watching those two things?”
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Alabama came into Saturday’s game ranked No. 17 and played the No. 5 team on the road.
But ‘Bama never trailed and pulled the upset.
TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE
Galloway did give Penn State credit for coming back in the fourth quarter from two scores down to tie Oregon at 17.
But, at the end of the day, the start to the game wasn’t good enough, and Galloway pointed out that Penn State had eight first downs in the fourth quarter compared to seven in the first three combined.
“I always feel they don’t come out ever guns a-blazin,” he said. “They say, ‘we’re going to feel our way through it, we’re going to run, run, run and point, that’s fine.’ And then they get to the end, and it’s like, ok— in the big ones— now we have to try to make some plays and do some different things. And they did.”
Ultimately, both Herbstreit and Galloway seemed perplexed that Penn State can get so close, yet so far away.
“I wonder if— what you’re saying— they play a style of game that wants to just (say) ‘let’s hand in there until the fourth quarter and then let’s find a way to win it,” Herbstreit said. Do you think that’s what is costing them? Because they’re good enough. They’re in every single game. They’re good enough to win these games.”
No. 7 Penn State takes on UCLA in Pasadena Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 ET on CBS.
