In the days after Penn State’s frustrating 20-12 loss at Ohio State in 2023, head coach James Franklin floated the idea of moving his traditional weekly noon press conference in Beaver Stadium from Tuesdays to Mondays.
The next Saturday, Penn State rebounded with a 33-24 victory over Indiana — coached by Tom Allen in his final season with the Hoosiers; he came to PSU two months later. At his post-game press conference, Franklin polled the media corps about the switch. There was little push-back.
And so, on Oct. 31, 2023, Franklin held his final Tuesday press conference. From then on, for Franklin, Mondays were for moving the media narrative forward.
Franklin said the Monday Move was so he and his team did not dwell — for better or for worse — on a game that was over by as many as 65 hours earlier. Made sense, and was aligned with much of the protocol in big-time college football.
Franklin’s explanation back then: “So we can move on and not keep doing this — not keep going back and talking about it. I get that you guys ask the questions, but for us, one of the ways to move on is to stop talking about it, and the hard part is, you guys want to talk about it. Which I get. I totally get it. But it’s kind of sending mixed messages, right?
“The best way to move on is to focus on the next opponent, learn from it, which we did on Saturday night, which we did all day Sunday. But then it’s time to move on to the next opponent. Learn the lessons from the game, make the corrections, and then pour all of our energy into finding a way to get a win….”
THE FRANKLIN WAY
Franklin is a creature of habit. He is a stickler for consistency. For example, he walks the exact same route through campus and downtown State College every day. The press corps quickly adapted to the day change — in part because the format stayed the same for every single presser; to wit:
1. Franklin thanks the media for being there.
2. He quickly reviews Saturday’s game, focusing on the same key statistical categories: turnovers, explosive plays, third/fourth downs, sacks, drive start (field position), penalties, the game’s middle eight minutes.
3. He gives a preview of that week’s opponent, reciting from copious notes as he flips from page to page.
4. Questions from reporters via Zoom.
5. Questions from reporters in the room.
(I too am a creature of habit. I always sit in the same seat: front row, like I tell my students to do, two seats right of center from Franklin’s spot at the dais.)
On Monday, in the media room in Beaver Stadium, Franklin gave a cursory nod to Northwestern (Penn State’s Homecoming opponent, 3:30 p.m. Saturday). He then skipped No. 3 entirely. I had never seen him do that. Ever. It was his 149th Tuesday-now-Monday game week press conference. And the first without No. 3. Man bites dog.
This is what Franklin said Monday after reviewing the game’s key statistics (No. 2):
“But at the end of the day, the stats are the stats. We did not play winning football…And I get it. I get the frustration. Again, it starts with me. We look at everything in detail. Now obviously, we’re on to Northwestern, doing everything we possibly can to get a win against Northwestern this week and get on a positive roll.”
And, with that, Franklin skipped ahead to No. 4: He took questions from reporters via Zoom. Then, he took questions from reporters in the room (No. 5). He didn’t duck a single one.
Most of the questions were about the loss to UCLA, and justifiably so. The second-most were about the Oregon-UCLA losing parlay. To be clear, reporters raised those look-back items. Not James.
THE FINAL QUESTION
Mine was the last question of the day:
Q: James, thanks for your time today. I don’t ever remember you not coming out and giving the scouting report of the opponent. You didn’t do that today. Why was that?
It was not a gotcha moment. For those of us who have sat through scores of Franklin pressers, to see him break ranks and not preview the opponent — well, it was very curious. Very newsworthy. Very telling. That had been his M.O. x 148 previous pressers. And I couldn’t let it go by, without asking why this week, of all weeks, was different. (FWIW, I’m not a big fan of the opponent previews; that stuff is in the foe’s media notes, available midweek. It’s basically a time suck.)
What Franklin said:
A: Yeah, that’s fair. That’s fair. Obviously, focused on the last game as much as we possibly could, so I’m glad you asked. I appreciate that. Getting into our next opponent, which I would love to do, so I definitely should have done that.
He handled it quite well, I thought. With genuine poise, humility and gratitude. He then went into an abbreviated preview of Northwestern.
But totally blanking on it initially actually spoke volumes, to me. Franklin is uber-regimented. His 1-0 mentality. His never-breaking-from routine. This has led to a record of 104-44 and just one major upset: Saturday in the Rose Bowl.
What the foe faux pas meant to me — whose girlfriend has a Ph.D. in psychology — and maybe Franklin, too, who has an undergraduate degree in psychology, had a deeper meaning.
He still had not moved past UCLA. And, probably in tandem, Oregon. Two stunning losses, against the best and worst that the Big Ten Conference had to offer. All in 164 hours. By not going through Northwestern, providing commentary on the head coach, on the offensive coordinator, the defensive coordinator, the special teams coordinator and a legion of players to watch out for, he showed where his head was at.
In Los Angeles. In the Rose Bowl. And likely, unable to also white out the bitter, double-overtime loss to Oregon.
NOT SWEET
I was reminded of something similar that happened almost a half-century ago in Penn State football history. After undefeated No. 1 Penn State lost 14-7 to Bear Bryant and Alabama in a Tide goal line stand in the 1979 Sugar Bowl, Joe Paterno took the loss very personally. He sulked for months to the degree that all parties involved said spilled over into the 1979 season — my first covering PSU football — and resulted in a disappointing 8-4 record. It was an unfun season for all involved that started with two losses in the first three games, and was capped by a 29-14 loss to rival Pitt and a sad 9-6 win over Tulane in the Liberty Bowl.
Paterno finally snapped out of it, and over the next seven seasons Penn State went 68-12 from 1980-86 and won two national championships. (Ironically, Franklin has six-and-a-half seasons left until his contract runs out at the end of 2031.)
This is that moment for Franklin.
Quarterback Drew Allar told me after the game, with a bit of a scoff, that “Yes,” the Nittany Lions are still in the hunt for the College Football Playoff. What I think: For that to happen, Penn State has to win its next seven games, hands-down.
The fate of the 2025 Nittany Lions is in the hands — and head — of their coach. For James Franklin, it must be Northwestern, Northwestern, Northwestern.
