James Franklin’s Penn State Nittany Lions are the sixth-ranked college football team in the country ahead of Saturday’s matchup against Ohio State. They are 6-0 after a beatdown over a bad UMass side last weekend and will hope to continue to make their push for a Big Ten title and College Football Playoff birth with a statement win in Columbus.
Although Penn State is undefeated, both its fanbase and part of the college football community question whether five-star quarterback Drew Allar is being used to his full potential. He has completed 65.2% of his passes for 1,254 yards and 12 touchdowns without an interception, but the Nittany Lions don’t go deep as often as it would appear. Outside of one 72-yard touchdown in Week 1, his longest throws in each of the other five games went for 26, 33, 14, 35 and 30 yards, respectively.
Penn State averages just 10.72 yards per completion, which ranks in the bottom third nationally.
James Franklin doesn’t care.
James Franklin was asked about the passing game last week. Specifically, he was asked if the coaching staff is encouraging Allar to throw deep more often instead of checking down.
The reporter was wondering if there is a scenario in which Penn State wants its quarterback to take a shot “no matter what.” It triggered the 51-year-old.
I don’t really understand what you’re saying because we would never–like my skin is curling when you say ‘Just drop back and chuck it deep no matter what’ […]
I don’t even know what you’re saying. It’s like you’re speaking from Mars.
— James Franklin
The full exchange was rather combative. And apparently Franklin has not let it go.
More than a week later, during practice on Wednesday, the salty head coach made a point to reference the deep ball narrative, which rubbed him in the wrong way. He made sure that everyone heard him.
Will the Nittany Lions go deep more often against the Buckeyes? We shall see, but it doesn’t seem like Franklin is interested in the outside perspective when what his team is doing right now has worked thus far.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. If the check-down works, don’t throw deep?