On Saturday in Penn State's 45-37 loss to Oregon in the Big Ten Championship, Penn State head coach James Franklin opted to go for a two-point conversion in the fourth quarter following a touchdown that cut the Oregon lead down to eight.
The conversion attempt would fail, drawing ire from the Nittany Lions' faithful and others watching. In the post game press conference following Saturday's game, James Franklin was asked about the decision. Here's what he had to say;
"The two-point play, we spend a ton of time on the analytics. We were having a tough time stopping them. We knew were going to have to score points, and we wanted to try to win the game in regulation," Franklin said.
"So going for two to give us the best chance to win in regulation, we thought was the plan that we needed to take and the approach that we needed to take," he added. "When you don't pick it up, obviously that's going to get criticized. I get it."
"The next one, you could make the argument, you go for two again. But if you don't go for two at that point, then you're a two-possession game at the end. So going for one the next touchdown allowed us to put ourselves in a position, one more touchdown allows us to go for two, send it to overtime, and go from there," he noted about the decision to kick a field goal after the Nittany Lions' last touchdown of the game to make it a 45-37 game.
"But the strategy is about winning the game in regulation. We felt like we needed to be aggressive. So that was the strategy we took."
On the two-point conversion attempt, the Nittany Lions would pull one of the many trick plays out of their playbook, a play that appeared to be the "Philly Special" that the Philadelphia Eagles used in their Super Bowl 52 victory over the New England Patriots (play below). With Drew Allar being covered, Tyler Warren looked to cut back upfield towards the endzone but would be tackled for a loss on the play.
Penn State would allow later allow a touchdown, with Oergon extending their lead back to two-scores. The Nittany Lions would answer back to cut the lead to 45-37 and would have an opportunity to tie the game late but Drew Allar's second interception of the night would seal the win for Oregon.
The Nittany Lions now 11-2 on the season will await their College Football Playoffs fate. Media projections have the Nittany Lions ranked anywhere from the No. 5 seed to the No. 8 seed. While their ultimate seeing is highly debated, it seems highly likely that the Nittany Lions will be hosting a first-round playoff matchup at Beaver Stadium.
--------------------------------------------------------------
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
