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James Franklin Ruined His Valid Complaint About Big Ten Referees By Whining About Lopsided Penalties

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James Franklin penalties Oregon Penn State Referees
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James Franklin was not happy with the college football officials at the Big Ten Championship on Saturday. However, he admitted on national television that Penn State deserved to be called for the large majority of its penalties and it’s not like Oregon got away with murder.

Although the head coach’s choice of words were poor, the underlying sentiment behind his gripe stemmed more from an inconsistency with questionable decision-making than an inconsistency with flags.

The Nittany Lions were called for five penalties for 65 yards in the eight-point loss. Four of the five took place during the first half on a pair of obvious facemasks and two dead ball fouls.

Franklin said on national television that his team deserved to be called for all four penalties during the first 30 minutes of play and expressed his frustration toward the sloppy play. By that math, there was one penalty of five for which he disagreed.

I don’t want this to come off the wrong way. I give Oregon a ton of credit, but the penalties were pretty lopsided […]

— James Franklin

On the other side of the field, the Ducks were flagged three times for 24 yards. The difference between three and five is rather insignificant. To complain about this specific discrepancy is rather silly.

James Franklin just wants officials to do their job!

Franklin was more upset with the officiating from a 30,000-foot view. This is where the 52-year-old actually has a real case. He should’ve started and ended here instead of immediately discrediting his complaint with mention of the penalties.

I have more of an issue with the ones that could have been reviewed. The non-reviewable ones, they’re gonna happen. But the ones that need to be reviewed, need to be reviewed, in my opinion.

— James Franklin

Drew Allar completed a nine-yard pass to Omar Evans during the fourth quarter. It was ruled incomplete on the field even though it seemed to be a pretty clear completion.

Franklin was irate and rightfully so. He called on the officials to take a second look. They refused to review the play on their own and instead encouraged him to use a timeout to challenge but the timeout was too valuable to waste at that point in the game.

I thought it was a catch, and looking on the Jumbotron, it looked like it was a catch. And I get you’re going to miss some calls, but it’s two minutes. Everybody says, “OK, well slow down so they can review the call.” It’s a two-minute drive. You can’t slow down in a critical game like that.

In my opinion, they should have buzzed down, and they should have checked that. Now, we’ll watch the video of it. Maybe I’m wrong. But from what I saw on the field, what I saw in the jumbotron, that was a catch. And you can’t miss those calls in these types of games, especially when you’ve got replay.

Just buzz down. It’s too important.

— James Franklin

Penn State ultimately scored on the drive, so the incompletion did not directly impact the result. However, it might’ve had an impact on Franklin’s clock management and late-game plan.

The 11th-year head coach also thought Oregon could’ve been flagged for unnecessary roughness after the Ducks gave Allar an extra shove after the whistle.

There was a time late in the game where I thought they needed to protect Drew, where he was hung up in a pile and kind of got slammed down late.

— James Franklin

Here is a look at the altercation in question:

Big Ten officials chose not to throw a flag. The game played on.

The Ducks later scored a touchdown on a play that should’ve been called back. They had multiple offensive linemen down field as ineligible receivers.

It also appeared as though Oregon tight end Terrance Ferguson pushed off from Penn State defensive back Audavion Collins on a crucial fourth-down conversion during the fourth quarter.

James Franklin questioned the lack of holding penalties called on his opponent as well.

With Abdul Carter and Dani Dennis-Sutton, we’ve been able to produce sacks and pressure, as well as [Dvon J-Thomas] and the boys inside. I could be wrong, but there wasn’t one holding call in the game. That’ll be interesting to watch.

— James Franklin

These frustrations are not ill-founded. There are multiple reasons to raise an eyebrow. The Nittany Lions were on the wrong end of a few questionable officiating decisions.

With that being said, it was not “lopsided penalties” that propelled Oregon to a win over Penn State in the Big Ten Championship. Franklin ruined his valid complaint about the officials with a throwaway line that makes it look like he is unwilling to take responsibility. The loss was not his fault. It was the penalties.