It could only end like this for James Franklin.
No upset against SMU or Boise State, for this Penn State team.
The Penn State coach has been plagued by losses in the biggest moments and that continued Thursday night with the Nittany Lions’ crushing 27-24 loss to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.
Franklin has built a consistently competitive program in Happy Valley, but he now stands 1-15 against top-five opponents and 4-20 against those in the top 10.
The final minute is where Penn State lost this game with some questionable decision-making by the head coach, along with quarterback Drew Allar.
Penn State got the ball back at the 15-yard line with 38 seconds left and the game tied at 24. Franklin decided to go for the win, instead of playing for overtime.
After a 13-yard run by Nick Singleton, Allar threw a dangerous pass late across the middle and it was intercepted by Notre Dame’s Christian Gray.
The Irish drove to the Nittany Lions’ 23 and Mitch Jeter kicked the game-winning field goal to send Notre Dame to the national championship game.
On the go-ahead kick, Penn State had two players standing about 20 yards back from the line of scrimmage, seemingly protecting against a fake instead of going for an all-out block.
Gotta hand it to James Franklin. He was NOT going to let Notre Dame beat him with a fake field goal. pic.twitter.com/l5u9alvyVQ
— Scott Bell (@sbell021) January 10, 2025
“But most importantly, I wanted it for the guys in the locker room and the staff,” Franklin said after the game. “As you can imagine, there’s a thousand different emotions going on and feelings, but as the head coach, I’ve got to put on the right face for the guys in the locker room for what they need right now and for my family.
“And the sun will come up tomorrow, and the one thing I want to make sure that all those guys do is walk out of that locker room with their heads high and their chests out because they have a ton to be proud of. There’s about 128 teams that would give their right arm to have the season that we just had this year. It doesn’t feel that way right now, but there’s a ton to be proud of.”
Penn State finished the regular season 11-1, but the “one” was another loss to Ohio State. Franklin is 4-17 against Ohio State and Michigan, his team’s biggest rivals in the Big 10.
Penn State had a favorable path to the semifinals, beating SMU and Boise State.
The Nittany Lions then dominated much of the first half against Notre Dame and was leading 10-0 before allowing backup quarterback Steve Angeli — starter Riley Leonard was being checked for a concussion — to drive the Irish down for a field goal.
Notre Dame took control at the start of the second half to pull ahead 17-10 before Penn State pushed back with two touchdowns of its own.
But Notre Dame scored the final 10 points — with a game-tying touchdown coming on a defensive breakdown.
And as one X user pointed out, Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman “has more wins against top 5 teams in the last 8 days than James Franklin has in his entire time at Penn State.”
