By Kyle Golik
While the nation comes off the hysteria that was Mike Tyson versus Jake Paul on Netflix, there is an analogy between Tyson – the former heavyweight champion who dominated boxing in the late 1980s and Penn State’s James Franklin – who seemingly loses every big game he is in.
The analogy comes from Tyson’s former trainer Teddy Atlas, who described Tyson’s poor ability to handle resistance. “He wasn’t a great fighter. I would say he’s 0-5, you’re not in a fight unless there is resistance, pressure, overcoming something, otherwise it’s just an exhibition. Five times there was resistance, five times it became a real fight, five times there was something to overcome, and he failed all five times. He was only in five fights in his life and he’s 0-5.”
In a lot of ways, when Franklin has been challenged in the past, there have been fatal miscues that downed Penn State and cost them in the big picture.
A prime example is the 2017 Michigan State game.
Penn State was coming off an epic collapse in Columbus where Ohio State rallied back in the fourth quarter to defeat Penn State 39-38, my pick for Franklin’s worst loss at Penn State. The Nittany Lions were feeling the hangover the very next week in East Lansing where a three and a half hour weather delay allowed the hangover to permeate and stew. The Nittany Lions could not handle the counter punch from Michigan State and left in a 27-24 defeat.
A win most likely would have enabled Penn State a better New Year’s Six bowl because Ohio State, who was still feeling the wrath from their 2016 flop against Clemson, may have gotten into the College Football Playoff.
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Fast forward to 2024 in Minneapolis, it was deja vu for the Nittany Lions. Minnesota was a better football than their 6-4 record indicated. Remember the missed field goal firework snafu in Week 1 against North Carolina or the fourth quarter collapse against Rutgers have been in the way of Minnesota from being an 8-2 team.
This Minnesota team, also spoiled Penn State’s 2019 season. Penn State was ranked No. 4 and undefeated. Had Penn State held on in Minneapolis, does an 11-1 team get some College Football Playoff love? You still have to make a case against an Oklahoma team that won the Big 12, but the Sooners laid an egg against LSU in the Peach Bowl, although I’m not sure anyone was stopping 2019 LSU.
But it goes back to Atlas’ comment about Tyson that resonates with Franklin, time and time again, when a championship or a big moment is on the line Franklin and his team seemingly caved when it mattered most. Eliminating themselves from potential championship conversations, we haven’t gotten to know what Penn State would do when it matters most on a national scale. Would they struggle like they do consistently against Ohio State or Michigan? Maybe. However, they could be strong and formidable and won a fair share of those games changing a narrative for Franklin.
At some point in every successful coach’s career, they have to make a call to go for the win to preserve a potential championship season. That is exactly what Franklin did against Minnesota.
“Tonight, we had to call, typically, when you call that a lot of times, they’re going to be in [punt] safe. They had their defense on the field. I thought it was going to be safe again. And then when we ran our punt team on, they ran their punt return team out. So I thought we had a chance. And then the look allowed us to run it,” Franklin said of the fourth and one call at their 34 yard line with under four minutes to go.
“Luke Reynolds (who would get the fourth down conversion with a 32 yard run), that was a huge play for him. Blocked extremely well. So that’s been cooking, I guess, with Thanksgiving coming up, or marinating for a while, all the way back to training camp. So we’ll put that one on the shelf and start working the next one. And then if if it’s not the right look, Dom checks out of it to a traditional punt. And we called that probably six times this year. Were just waiting for the right time.”
FAKE PUNT FOR THE FIRST
WHAT A CALL pic.twitter.com/WFGZtxIVb4
— Barstool Penn State (@PSUBarstool) November 23, 2024
The conversion almost freed Franklin from all previous conservative calls or the shackles of criticism for not being aggressive enough. Much like how Ohio State ran out the clock on the Nittany Lions, Franklin realized it was time for Penn State to do the same.
Penn State would go for it on fourth down two more times and convert.
“I just felt like we needed to try to end the game on our terms with the ball in our hand,” Franklin said. “Give them a ton of credit. They did a good job of producing yards and finding a way. Their field goal kicker was back to the guy from last year. Started out the season a little rocky but was kicking the ball very, very well tonight and the second half of season’s been kicking well. So I just felt like, be aggressive end the game on our terms, with the ball in our hands, and those things. As I told you guys before, I’ll click over and talk to the defense as well and get their thoughts. So just proud of our guys.”
The play calling was amongst the best of Franklin’s career, it had playoff implications and these situations won’t be the first for Franklin to encounter. He had to face the fear of failure head-on or die a coward.
The latter is something Tyson was never willing to do. Tyson would marvel at his hero Muhammad Ali, saying exactly what Atlas would knock him on, “he’s willing to die in there, I’m not willing to die in there.
Tyson’s unwillingness to sacrifice it all is why he never reached his full potential, similar to Franklin. Franklin shed that fear to die when he absolutely needed to. That was a championship lesson he failed so many times before.
