Penn State's James Franklin 'Comfortable' With Late TD Vs. West Virginia
After a long answer regarding Penn State's touchdown with 6 seconds remaining against West Virginia, James Franklin turned to a communications staff member and asked, "You comfortable with that?"
"I'm comfortable," the staff member replied.
"I'm coachable, too," Franklin said.
Franklin clearly expected a question about the end of Penn State's 38-15 win over West Virginia, when backup quarterback Beau Pribula rushed for a touchdown instead of kneeling to run out the clock. Some on social media, bettors in particular, reacted strongly, and West Virginia coach Neal Brown made this comment after the game.
"I wouldn't have done it, but it doesn’t bother me," Brown said. "Stuff like that, what comes around goes around. At some point, it’ll come back around. I don't know when. It doesn't bother me. I’m not upset about it."
Franklin said he was "comfortable" with the game's final series, in which Pribula led the second-team offense on a nine-play, 46-yard scoring drive. Pribula converted a 4th-and-2 pass to Malick Meiga for a first down and later scored a 5-yard rushing touchdown. The series marked the first playing time for several Lions, notably Pribula, the team's second-team quarterback. As a result. Franklin said those players deserved an opportunity to play a competitive series.
"That’s what I believe," Franklin said. "I believe that, from the opening kick to the last whistle, you compete and you play. Now if you leave your 1s [first-team players] in, that’s a different story. Then you should change how you play and you take knees and run in situations that you normally wouldn’t run in. That’s different. But when your 2s go in the game, those guys get a limited amount of reps. They should have chance to compete."
Franklin further noted that West Virginia, while still playing most of its first-team defenders, showed an alignment known as cover 0 on fourth down. The alignment puts more defenders in the box, making run plays difficult and pressuring the quarterback. It's also a formation quarterbacks identify as passing opportunities. Pribula did that for the first down.
"They went to cover 0, which it's hard to run when you go cover 0," Franklin said. "Beau should have the ability to check to our cover 0 plan and have a chance to execute a play that has a chance to be successful against cover 0. And then should have a chance to score. So I’m comfortable with that. I can’t go a whole lot more than that, and I’ll leave it at that."
Though he acknowledged other views — "I guess everybody looks at it differently, right?" — Franklin said he feels responsible to give his second team a full chance to play.
"I think once those 2s get in the game, then they deserve the right and the chance to play and compete," Franklin said. "Now I believe that not just from a Penn State perspective. If we’re ever in that situation, I see it the same way. This isn’t me looking at it just from our view. I've got a bunch of other things I could say, but I’m just going to leave it at that."
More on Penn State
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'That's just the beginning,' Penn State receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith says
Week 1 takeaways: How Drew Allar changed the offense
Penn State 38, West Virginia 15: Rapid reaction from Beaver Stadium
The Penn State-West Virginia report card
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