Penn State Football: Franklin Brings Plenty Of Bowl Experience With Him To New York

Penn State coach James Franklin might be new to the scene in Happy Valley, but this isn’t his first rodeo when it comes to getting ready for a bowl game.

In fact, Franklin has been spending nearly all of his collegiate coaching career making it to the post season.

Since 2000, Franklin has been to a bowl game 10 times.

Over that span, while Franklin has only been the head coach for four bowl games, his teams have scored an average of 33 points a game with the 40 point barrier having been broken on four occasions. Franklin has also won four of the last five bowl games he has been a part of. He’s currently on a two game winning streak in the post season.

Franklin will look to start his own winning streak at Penn State this weekend when the Nittany Lions face Boston College in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl. Taking a look at Franklin’s history, there is reason for fans to feel confident that he’s familiar with the ins and outs of postseason play.

At Maryland:

• 2001: 56-23 loss to No. 5 Florida in Orange Bowl

• 2002: 30-3 victory over Tennessee in Peach Bowl

• 2003: 41-7 win over No. 23 West Virginia in Gator Bowl

At Kansas State:

• 2006: 37-10 defeat of No. 16 Rutgers in Texas Bowl

Back at Maryland:

• 2008: 42-35 win over Nevada and Colin Kaepernick in the Humanitarian Bowl

• 2010: 51-20 win over East Carolina in the Military Bowl

Vanderbilt:

• 2011: 31-24 loss to Cincinnati in the Liberty Bowl

• 2012: 38-24 win over NC State in the Music City Bowl

• 2013: 41-24 win over Houston in BBVA Compass Bowl

At Penn State:

• 2014: Pinstripe Bowl