James Franklin: "Too many moving parts" led to Peach Bowl defeat
Saturday's Peach Bowl defeat was an uphill battle for James Franklin and Penn State. The Nittany Lions' head coach admitted as much following the loss to Ole Miss in Atlanta, sharing that there were too many factors against his team.
"Too many moving parts with the staff and with the players, against a good team. Too many moving parts, staff and players to have the type of success that we wanted to have today," Franklin told the media after the game.
What was primed to be a marquee event in the New Year's Six bowl slate turned out to be plagued by opt-outs and movement around the coaching staff on the side of the Nittany Lions. Both their offensive coordinator (Mike Yurcich) and defensive coordinator (Manny Diaz) at the beginning of the season are no longer with the program, the latter of which left earlier this month while the former was relieved of his duties during the season.
Adding onto the coaching staff being influx during bowl season was what has turned into a yearly hot button topic revolving around opt-outs in the college football postseason. That found its way to Penn State with the absences of Olu Fashanu, Chop Robinson, Johnny Dixon, and Kalen King.
Those opt-outs thrust Penn State's younger crop of talent into the limelight, particularly in the secondary and defense as a whole, with Cam Miller and Zion Tracy both seeing extended playing time against what was an explosive Ole Miss attack. The two inexperienced cornerbacks were attacked in coverage on a regular basis by Jaxson Dart and company.
"If you watch their game plan, you know they went after some guys that had not played a ton of football for us this year. It'll be a great learning opportunity for those guys and for us moving forward," Franklin said.
Penn State surrendered a season-worst 540 yards and 38 points, while its previous mark was 365 yards (against Ohio State) and 24 points (against Michigan and Indiana) heading into the Peach Bowl on Saturday afternoon.
Also playing a part in the struggles was a number of departing Nittany Lions seeing limited snap counts in their final games with the program. The most notable to fall under that category were defenders Curtis Jacobs and Adisa Isaac, who played a combined 46 plays, well under their season averages.
Not to mention the injuries to Abdul Carter and Kobe King at different points of the loss, with Carter's hindering his movement throughout the rest of the matchup.
"We had some injuries. We had some guys that had limited roles in the second half compared to the first half. All those things factored into it," Franklin said.
On the offensive side of the ball, it was another poor showing in a big game for quarterback Drew Allar and the Nittany Lions. The 500+ yard day is a bit misleading, as nearly half of it came in the fourth quarter when Ole Miss had already taken a commanding lead and was poised to bleed out the clock. Allar finished his first bowl start going 19-39 for 295 yards with two scores and an interception.
Franklin shared that Allar had some areas he'd like to clean up, but so does his surrounding cast. The Penn State head coach referenced the offensive line and wide receivers in particular as units that struggled in his eyes on Saturday.
"We got to make plays for him [Allar] when we have the opportunity to make plays for him. I think there's some things that he can do and be more consistent as well," Franklin said.
The wide receiver position has been questioned all season in Happy Valley, and those frustrations only grew after Saturday's showing. The group combined for just 92 yards as a whole on the day. That was surprising to Franklin considering how well they had performed during bowl prep over the last month leading into the game.
"I actually thought during the bowl period, that those guys had a really good bowl period. I thought that was a big part that we were excited about. We made a big deal about with the team," Franklin said. "We've got to be able to make sure that we translate what we do in practice, consistently to the games."
Despite all of the adversity thrown the Nittany Lions' way, James Franklin was blunt in sharing that Penn State did not seize the moment against Ole Miss on Saturday when given the opportunity.
"I think one of the things that I think can be challenging is you may not get an opportunity early in the game. But whenever those opportunities come, you got to maximize them. You got to maximize them and we have not done that consistently enough," Franklin said.
Saturday was yet another defeat in a big game for Franklin and company on the heels of losses to both Michigan and Ohio State earlier this season, which will force them to face the music in what has turned into a yearly off-season tradition.
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