James Franklin’s Gauntlet: His Habit of Saying Without Saying Penn State Will Beat Purdue

Once is an accident. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is a habit.

James Franklin is making it a habit to say without saying that he thinks his Penn State team will beat Purdue in its season-opener Thursday night on national television.

It’s as though Franklin knows – feels it deep down, with summer drills over – that the Nittany Lions are better than the 7-5/8-4/9-3 naysayers predict.

The Nittany Lions’ head coach in the preseason has lauded his team’s depth, its leadership, its veteran quarterback, its Tinsley-Chop-Nourzad triad of talented transfers, its pair of potent freshman running backs and its aggressive Manny Diaz-led defense.

It’s as if the Nittany Lions’ head coach is tired of reading and hearing about his two-year record of 11-11 that was punctuated by a 2-6 skid to finish 2022. And he knows that by 11:30 p.m. on Thursday in West Lafayette, Ind., the narrative will have shifted.

To a victory. To a 1-0 record. To a 100-yard rusher. To a perfect start to 2022.

He knows. This is Franklin’s 31st college football season: four as a player, 15 as an assistant (not counting one in the NFL) and beginning his 12th as a head coach. That’s 358 college football games (220-138, .615). And counting. He knows.

I think Franklin thinks he has an underrated, under-the-radar squad that is better than most people think. Especially the people who pick Purdue, a 3.5-point underdog to beat Penn State. And the ones who pick Auburn, a 1.5-point underdog, to beat Penn State on Sept. 17.

(Those people do not include ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit, who has said, “Penn State has a shot at being a sleeper team.”)

Franklin can’t tell all the fans to jump in a lake. 

But he can – gently – taunt and troll and tease the pack of 40 or so reporters who cover Penn State football.

If you’ve been paying attention, the coach has subtly jabbed the assembled largely-compliant media contingent in each of his last three press gatherings. Be they at the Lasch practice field on Aug 10. Or inside the Bryce Jordan Center after laser tag on Aug. 17. Or last week on the Beaver Stadium turf, after practice.

Again and again and again.

The Jimmy Jab comes at the end of each session, with the writers and bloggers and camera people forming a half-circle around Franklin, when the ninth-year Penn State coach says, essentially, I can’t wait to see how you report about Penn State football now; we are due to get our due. It’s his tell.

This is what I mean. Here are quick excerpts from his last three media gatherings:

Franklin on Wednesday, Aug. 10: “I do think we are making progress. But again, we got to do it Thursday, Sept. 1, against Purdue. Big Ten Conference, Blackout, all the good stuff. Then, I’ll be interested to see what you guys say Thursday night after the game. Then, whoever we play the next week; we have to go out and do it again because you’re only as good as your last game.” 

Franklin on Wednesday, Aug. 17: “…But, at the end of the day, you guys will tell me and everybody else very clearly how we are after the Purdue game.”

Franklin on Tuesday, Aug. 23: “I think I got a pretty good idea of where we are, who we are and what our identity is on offense, defense and special teams and what our strengths are and the things that we need to do to play to those strengths. And what are the areas that we still need to get better at between now and Purdue and the next game.

“I sat in the defensive meetings today, basically Day One of Purdue, and saw how we kind of install and break them down, then tell [our players] what the most critical things are for us to win specifically on the defensive side of the ball. I thought we did a really nice job with that.

“So, I like where we’re at. But again, you guys will tell me very clearly where we’re at after the game.”

You will tell me. The gauntlet has been thrown down.

OK, I’ll tell you now: I’m sold.

Right around midnight on Thursday, l’ll be in the Ross-Ade Stadium press box, writing about Penn State’s convincing season-opening win over Purdue.