The month of December, with an appearance and subsequent victory in the Pinstripe Bowl, paid big dividends for Penn State and the Nittany Lion football program.
To say nothing of head coach James Franklin.
As well as the Penn State players.
“Since the Michigan State game, we put in a lot of work,” said tight end Kyle Carter, who caught the game-winning TD against Boston College on Saturday. “We did a lot of team development and focusing on ourselves instead of BC. I feel that helped us a lot.”
For Franklin, who in 14 days begins his Year No. 2 at Penn State, the 12th month of the year was meant for not only giving his players extra reps, but for receiving some tangible personal rewards as well.
According to his contract released when he succeeded Bill O’Brien as head coach in January 2014, Franklin pockets a bonus of $200,000 because Penn State played in a bowl game. (There’s no additional money for winning the game.) Eleven months ago, that pay-off seemed like a 50/50 proposition at best for this season, given the Nittany Lions were still under NCAA postseason sanctions, which were subsequently lifted on Sept. 8 of this year.
Franklin also gets a “retention bonus” of $300,000 for being employed by Penn State “on 12/31/14” – this Wednesday. So as First Night State College celebrates its 21st year on New Year’s Eve, the same day Franklin makes an extra chunk of change for making it through First Year Penn State. Penn State’s 7-6 record and thrilling overtime victory against Boston College on Saturday night certainly were rewarding for almost everyone in Yankee Stadium – which held a pro-PSU crowd by a 4-to-1 ratio. Some of that credit goes to Franklin, who backflipped into his new job on Jan. 11 and never stopped hopping.
Overall, Franklin will receive $4.5 million for his first year of employ – about $12,328 a day. December will be a particularly good month for the 42-year-old head coach; he’ll receive $833,333.33. That’s gross, not net.
(It was Franklin the coach who got Penn State to the bowl game. And Franklin the #247marketer certainly earned some of that money as well. Penn State’s average home attendance in Beaver Stadium rose 5,036 in 2014 vs. 2013. Combined, that’s a jump of 35,252 tickets sold. And at approximately $72 per seat, that meant about an additional $2.538 million for Penn State’s dwindling coffers, for which athletic director Sandy Barbour is grateful.)
FIVE WHO ALSO THRIVED
Franklin is not the only member of the Penn State football contingent to reap rewards for the month of December, although we’re talking mostly intangibles for the other folks. Here are five other big winners of the December-Pinstripe combo:
PSU Athletics bowl trippers — Many of the Penn State players took part in their first bowl game and, for many, it was their first visit to New York City. In a nice gesture, especially given the bowl hiatus, Penn State Athletics also foot the bill for coaches and staffers to take family to the bowl game, as well as the entire Blue Band. In all, PSU took eight buses to NYC.
Christian Hackenberg – The time off allowed the Penn State quarterback to rest his body and forget, at least a bit, the 42 sacks he suffered in 2014. (In contrast, Kerry Collins was sacked five times in the entire 1994 season.) Hackenberg responded with a big game, breaking or tying nine Penn State bowl passing records. He completed 34 of 50 passes for 371 yards, with four TDs and nary an interception.
Hackenberg’s performance far exceeded what Jameis Winston did against BC in a narrow 20-17 win over BC in late November. In a game on a water-logged field in Tallahassee, Winston completed 22 of 32 for 281 yards, with one TD pass and one interception. This is most telling about his performance: Over the final dozen plays against BC, which constituted FSU’s game-winning drive, Winston threw just three times. Conversely, Hackenberg ended the Pinstripe Bowl by directing two scoring drives, one in regulation to set up a Sam Ficken game-tying field goal and the other ending with that OT pass to Carter. Together, of the 13 plays on those pressure-packed drives, Hackenberg ran once for six yards and passed the ball 10 times, completing eight. (The other two plays? Akeel Lynch’s two carries for one yard and minus two yards.)
John Donovan – Penn State’s beleaguered offensive coordinator used the extra month to add several significant wrinkles to the Nittany Lion offense. He rolled out Hackenberg more often, went hurry-up with greater frequency, used more misdirection with Penn State’s backs and receivers in motion, and spread the ball around more than usual, especially among the wide receivers. Eight different Nittany Lions had receptions, with Chris Godwin, Geno Lewis and DaeSean Hamilton each grabbing seven passes and a touchdown.
The results showed: Penn State’s 453 yards of total offense were its third-highest of 2014, as were its 79 offensive plays, third-down conversions (9 of 17) and first downs (25).
NFL prospects – Ficken could be another Robbie Gould. He had another strong game in the Pinstripe, making four PATs and a 45-yard field goal to send the game into OT. He finished 2014 by making 24 of 29 field goal attempts, and over the past two seasons he was 39 of 52. In his career, Ficken made 109 of 112 PATs. Senior safety Adrian Amos was more visible than usual against BC, and was second on the team with seven tackles. His performance solidified his pro potential. Senior linebacker Mike Hull, headed south next month to train at IMG in preparation for the NFL Draft, had six tackles, to finish with 140 for the season.
Both offensive tackle Donovan Smith and defensive end Deoin Barnes graduated just one week before the Pinstripe Bowl. Both have a year of eligibility remaining, but could possibly test the pro waters as redshirt junior defensive tackle Anthony Zettel has done. (Update: Smith announced on Monday afternoon that he has declared for the draft, while Smith did the same on Tuesday.)
Zettel said earlier this month that he submitted paperwork to the NFL to assess his draftability. In the Pinstripe Bowl, the All-Big Ten first teamer had six tackles, five of them solo, and two for losses – giving him 17 TFLs on the year. By simply asking for a league evaluation, players maintain their eligibility. Players in their third year of college – like Allen Robinson last year – are permitted to declare themselves eligible for the NFL Draft, but without any guarantees that they’ll be selected. Junior tight end Jesse James, who grabbed three passes against BC and showed off some moxie when he bulled his way to a crucial first down deep in the fourth quarter, fits the ARob bill in that regard.
Smith, Barnes and James had oodles of experience – each started 31 games for the Nittany Lions, tied for second-most on the squad behind Amos (38).
Penn State fans – The crowd in Yankee Stadium was decidedly Penn State. The ballpark rocked like Beaver Stadium for much of the game and provided a strong homefield advantage. Nittany Lion fans benefited from the proximity of the game to State College, Philadelphia, New Jersey and the entire New York City metro area. In all, there are about 32,000 Penn State alumni in the NYC metro area, and 160,000-plus with two hours.
Although ticket prices for the Pinstripe Bowl were the third-highest among all bowl games on StubHub — $128.10, behind $135 for Oregon-FSU and $213.17 for Alabama-Ohio State – the ability to day-trip the game by car, bus, subway and train made Penn State’s first foray back into the postseason world easily navigable and easy on the pocketbook.
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