James Franklin Awfully Whiny After Being Embarrassed In Ann Arbor
James Franklin has a way about him. He's done some nice things while at Penn State, but even avid Nittany Lions fans could probably come up with a pretty long list of things they'd change about their head coach. After Saturday's demoralizing loss in Ann Arbor, you can add a couple more to the list.
Obviously the first couple would be losing by 24 and giving up more than 400 yards rushing. But after that, it could be how he and his team conducted themselves in Michigan's tunnel during halftime and how he explained it after the fact.
Look, Michigan certainly isn't innocent here when it comes to the small dust ups that occasionally occur during halftime at The Big House. On Saturday, Penn State players went in first, followed by the Wolverines, and tensions were high. There was plenty of trash talking but nothing really happened. Stuff like this has happened before, most regularly with Ohio State and Michigan State, but usually it's just some aggressive jawing and nothing more. It didn't go far past that with PSU on Saturday, but it's Franklin's recollection, explanation and soft request that makes this situation noteworthy.
As you can clearly see, both teams are equally involved and it's actually Franklin dropping F bombs and yelling in Michigan's direction while his players throw peanut butter and jelly sandwiches toward the U-M locker room. Still, not really a huge deal, but then hearing Franklin whine about the situation after the fact just comes off as soft, whiny sour grapes.
"For me, I want to get our team in the locker room. That's my concern," Franklin said.
Really? Because it looked like you wanted to yell and swear at Michigan staffers while your boys hurled Uncrustables. Then Franklin has the gall to talk about instituting a new "policy" in a stadium that he has nothing to do with. It's all just a bad, weak look.
At the end of the day, it was pretty much a non-situation. I just can't stand when people act like Franklin is acting. He's trying to sound holier than though and play the victim card while attempting to "solve a problem" that he was a part of.
Enjoy the L(s).
