Still don’t understand why JF punted from our own 42 on 4th and less than a yard in the 2nd Quarter.

[PSUWrestlingFanSince2011]

We were running at will against Illinois and we could have easily picked up the first down on a hand off or even a QB sneak. I don’t think it's even a question if we would pick it up or not.

This seemed like the old Franklin being conservative with our old bad OL vs a good DL. But this was the total opposite.

Franklin said in the PC that he did it bc Illinois is a field position kind of team. But when you're absolutely destroying the other team up front you have to take that into consideration.

I hope that Franklin continues to be aggressive like he did vs WVU at the end of the 1st half bc that's what winning programs do, they play to win.

 

[bcspsu]

We were running at will against Illinois and we could have easily picked up the first down on a hand off or even a QB sneak. I don’t think it's even a question if we would pick it up or not.

This seemed like the old Franklin being conservative with our old bad OL vs a good DL. But this was the total opposite.

Franklin said in the PC that he did it bc Illinois is a field position kind of team. But when you're absolutely destroying the other team up front you have to take that into consideration.

I hope that Franklin continues to be aggressive like he did vs WVU at the end of the 1st half bc that's what winning programs do, they play to win.

Considering that our o-line has an average weight of close to 320 lbs. and appear to be maulers, and Allar is a pretty big human himself, that call made very little sense. Then, when he should've kicked a field goal in the third quarter to make it a two score game, he decides to go for a fourth and three, which was totally inconsistent from his earlier decision.

I believe that Franklin overall has done and is doing a great job with this program, but he still makes many perplexing gameday decisions.

 

[doctornick]

At that point we were shutting down Illinois' offense and we were on our side of the field. I wouldn't have a problem going for it but if you don't get it there it definitely puts the defense in a bad position.

I'm sure if we were maybe 10 yard further down the field he would have gone for it.

 

[Obliviax]

At that point we were shutting down Illinois' offense and we were on our side of the field. I wouldn't have a problem going for it but if you don't get it there it definitely puts the defense in a bad position.

I'm sure it we were maybe 10 yard further down the field he would have gone for it.

yep. The OP has a great question. At that point, the game was 7-7 and I don't think CJF wanted to give ILL life or momentum. We did go for it on 4th and 3 later in the game and didn't make it at the ILL 19 yard line. So...it may have been a good decision.

 

[PSUWrestlingFanSince2011]

yep. The OP has a great question. At that point, the game was 7-7 and I don't think CJF wanted to give ILL life or momentum. We did go for it on 4th and 3 later in the game and didn't make it at the ILL 19 yard line. So...it may have been a good decision.

4th and less than 1 yard vs 3 yards is apples to oranges.

 

[ram2020]

We were running at will against Illinois and we could have easily picked up the first down on a hand off or even a QB sneak. I don’t think it's even a question if we would pick it up or not.

This seemed like the old Franklin being conservative with our old bad OL vs a good DL. But this was the total opposite.

Franklin said in the PC that he did it bc Illinois is a field position kind of team. But when you're absolutely destroying the other team up front you have to take that into consideration.

I hope that Franklin continues to be aggressive like he did vs WVU at the end of the 1st half bc that's what winning programs do, they play to win.

I agree fully. Team was prepared, Franklin deserves credit, I just don't understand these 50/50 calls and what his guiding principles are. He has said it's the analytics...but he now abandons the analytics depending on the style of team he is playing? That seems like it's not about the analytics, at least, exclusively. I thought the 4th and 3 would have been a good time to send the kicker back in and open a 10 point lead and give the kid a little confidence. It would have been a 29 yard kick. Franklin calls him out later for a 40 yarder after bypassing him to go for a 4th and 3 where a field goal made a ton of sense....our kicker needs to be a big boy, so not putting it all on Franklin, but he did him no favors.

 

[Obliviax]

I agree fully. Team was prepared, Franklin deserves credit, I just don't understand these 50/50 calls and what his guiding principles are. He has said it's the analytics...but he now abandons the analytics depending on the style of team he is playing? That seems like it's not about the analytics, at least, exclusively. I thought the 4th and 3 would have been a good time to send the kicker back in and open a 10 point lead and give the kid a little confidence. It would have been a 29 yard kick. Franklin calls him out later for a 40 yarder after bypassing him to go for a 4th and 3 where a field goal made a ton of sense....our kicker needs to be a big boy, so not putting it all on Franklin, but he did him no favors.

in his press conference today he was asked about that call specifically. He said it was a field position game, at that point, and the defense was playing really well. So he wanted to kick and pin them deep. Our D, unfortunately, we gave up a 3rd and 21 for a first down. We ended up stoping the drive at the 43 and took over at our own 8.

Penn State 21-7 Illinois (Sep 28, 2024) Play-by-Play - ESPN

Play-by-play action for the Penn State Nittany Lions vs. Illinois Fighting Illini NCAAF game from September 28, 2024 on ESPN.

www.espn.com

 

[LandoComando]

Personally, I would have punted there--I'm just confused that Franklin did because it doesn't match what he says
I'd play conservatively against teams like Illinois and maybe that was his thought process but then the 4th down decision to go for it later is illogical even with a bad kicker.

 

[RickinDayton]

We were running at will against Illinois and we could have easily picked up the first down on a hand off or even a QB sneak. I don’t think it's even a question if we would pick it up or not.

This seemed like the old Franklin being conservative with our old bad OL vs a good DL. But this was the total opposite.

Franklin said in the PC that he did it bc Illinois is a field position kind of team. But when you're absolutely destroying the other team up front you have to take that into consideration.

I hope that Franklin continues to be aggressive like he did vs WVU at the end of the 1st half bc that's what winning programs do, they play to win.

I think he was right on that particular decision.

 

[doctornick]

4th and less than 1 yard vs 3 yards is apples to oranges.

On your own 40 vs on the opponent's 20 is also apple to oranges.

I wouldn't have gone for it at 4th and 1 and would have kicked at FG at 4th and 3 (I thought it was 4th and 2 though) but I think either decision in either case was actually very defensibly and understandable.

 

[PSUWrestlingFanSince2011]

On your own 40 vs on the opponent's 20 is also apple to oranges.

I wouldn't have gone for it at 4th and 1 and would have kicked at FG at 4th and 3 (I thought it was 4th and 2 though) but I think either decision in either case was actually very defensibly and understandable.

I guess we'll agree to disagree. With the way our OL is playing I hope Franklin goes for more 4th and 1's than punting or kicking fgs. I was so impressed with our OL Saturday. We haven't had an OL this good in a while boys.

 

[Lion_Backer]

I thought the 4th and 3 would have been a good time to send the kicker back in and open a 10 point lead and give the kid a little confidence.

I was thinking the same thing at the time.

Particularly since he had missed a relatively easy one earlier and the points were significant as you noted.

In listening to CJF's post game comments re: Sander, there was a genuine empathy and fondness for the young man that was very evident but with hindsight, his in game decisions regarding his usage have not yet beared significant fruit.

Re: sending out Barker vs the kid from Tulane for the final XP attempt, did CJF provide any insight or explanation?

 

[PurposePitch]

You absolutely go for it on 4th and 1 in that situation.

You had shredded them on the previous possession, and the defense wasn't playing well up until that point ... first series they got shredded and then second series they gave up a 17 yard completion and then the double penalty (offsides/pass interference), before finally shutting Illinois down. On that particular series, you actually were making good progress, except for the one sack that threw us off schedule ... but both run plays on that drive had gone for 12 yards, and the shortest run you had in the game up until that point was the 3 yard TD by Warren in the opening drive.

The 4th and 3 call was pretty risky, but I wouldn't have had a problem with it (especially given that our kicker stinks) if it was a better play call. 8 straight runs on that drive ... you need to motion and then show run up the middle with a play action if you're going to pass ... instead we went empty backfield. I thought Allar would have been better off trying to shake/sidestep that blitzer that came in untouched, rather than rush his throw, as well.

 

[PSUWrestlingFanSince2011]

I was thinking the same thing at the time.

Particularly since he had missed a relatively easy one earlier and the points were significant as you noted.

In listening to CJF's post game comments re: Sander, there was a genuine empathy and fondness for the young man that was very evident but with hindsight, his in game decisions regarding his usage have not yet beared significant fruit.

Re: sending out Barker vs the kid from Tulane for the final XP attempt, did CJF provide any insight or explanation?

Regarding Barker, yeah that was surprising. No insight was given.

 

[19333lion]

Maybe he has been paying attention to Nick Siriani's 4th down calls....

 

[The Spin Meister]

Very glad he didn’t go for it. Way too early to early to take risks. Why risk going foen by three…. Or seven…. and giving them the lead and momentum?

 

[AWS1022]

Franklin turtles up, wait he’s too aggressive. He should go for it on fourth down, wait he should kick a field goal on fourth down. He should run the ball more, wait he should pass the ball more. This is what you get when you can make the decision after the fact.

 

[bdroc]

yep. The OP has a great question. At that point, the game was 7-7 and I don't think CJF wanted to give ILL life or momentum. We did go for it on 4th and 3 later in the game and didn't make it at the ILL 19 yard line. So...it may have been a good decision.

Franklin went for 4th and 3 because he didn't trust Zadhayak

 

[PSUWrestlingFanSince2011]

Franklin turtles up, wait he’s too aggressive. He should go for it on fourth down, wait he should kick a field goal on fourth down. He should run the ball more, wait he should pass the ball more. This is what you get when you can make the decision after the fact.

Not true at all. I was furious when Franklin punted on 4th and less than a yard.

 

[LandoComando]

Franklin turtles up, wait he’s too aggressive. He should go for it on fourth down, wait he should kick a field goal on fourth down. He should run the ball more, wait he should pass the ball more. This is what you get when you can make the decision after the fact.

To be fair, I don't think this is "after the fact" because punting didn't hurt us...at all. And "after the fact" you can blame the kicker for him going for 4th and 3.
Both decisions just don't align with what he claims. Neither were horrible but simply confusing as he's inconsistent with his logic

 

[LandoComando]

Franklin went for 4th and 3 because he didn't trust Zadhayak

Then Sander shouldn't have been his kicker

 

[Lion_Backer]

Franklin went for 4th and 3 because he didn't trust Zadhayak

So what you are actually saying is that he didn't trust Sander from the 17, on 4th and 3, to kick a 35 yard FG but the very next possession PSU has a 4th a 4 at the 23 and he did trust him to attempt that longer 40 yd FG.

Unsuccessfully.

 

[Obliviax]

So what you are actually saying is that he didn't trust Sander from the 17, on 4th and 3, to kick a 35 yard FG but the very next possession PSU has a 4th a 4 at the 23 and he did trust him to attempt that longer 40 yd FG.

Unsuccessfully.

you are right...but it could be because when we did punt, we let them convert a 3rd and 21 for a first down. So you punt to pin them back and the D fails on third down or you try a FG and your kicker misses. Sometimes you are wrong no matter what you do.

 

[Lion_Backer]

you are right...but it could be because when we did punt, we let them convert a 3rd and 21 for a first down. So you punt to pin them back and the D fails on third down or you try a FG and your kicker misses. Sometimes you are wrong no matter what you do.

I'm familiar with that concept....

 

[PSUWrestlingFanSince2011]

you are right...but it could be because when we did punt, we let them convert a 3rd and 21 for a first down. So you punt to pin them back and the D fails on third down or you try a FG and your kicker misses. Sometimes you are wrong no matter what you do.

Unless you go for it and convert an easy first down without even trying.