James Franklin one-upped his awful big-game reputation in Penn State heartbreaker

It could only end like this for James Franklin.No upset against SMU or Boise State, for this Penn State team.The Penn State coach has been plagued by losses in the biggest moments and that continued Thursday night with the Nittany Lions’ crushing 27-24 loss to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.Franklin has built a consistently competitive program in Happy Valley, but he now stands 1-15 against top-five opponents and 4-20 against those in the top 10.The final minute is where Penn State lost this game with some questionable decision-making by the head coach, along with quarterback Drew Allar.Penn State got the ball back at the 15-yard line with 38 seconds left and the game tied at 24.Franklin decided to go for the win, instead of playing for overtime.After a 13-yard run by Nick Singleton, Allar threw a dangerous pass late across the middle and it was intercepted by Notre Dame’s Christian Gray.The Irish drove to the Nittany Lions’ 23 and Mitch Jeter kicked the game-winning field goal to send Notre Dame to the national championship game.On the go-ahead kick, Penn State had two players standing about 20 yards back from the line of scrimmage, seemingly protecting against a fake instead of going for an all-out block.“But most importantly, I wanted it for the guys in the locker room and the staff,” Franklin said after the game.

“As you can imagine, there’s a thousand different emotions going on and feelings, but as the head coach, I’ve got to put on the right face for the guys in the locker room for what they need right now and for my family.“And the sun will come up tomorrow, and the one thing I want to make sure that all those guys do is walk out of that locker room with their heads high and their chests out because they have a ton to be proud of.There’s about 128 teams that would give their right arm to have the season that we just had this year.

It doesn’t feel that way right now, but there’s a ton to be proud of.”Penn State finished the regular ...