If you have an appreciation for sports, I would highly recommend watching the entire interview with Coach Franklin after the one-point loss to Ohio State last weekend. Clips of it were posted all over social media, but I would recommend watching the whole thing. It is really a great interview, no matter who you root for or what sport you play, I guarantee what he says applies to you in your daily life, it's the truth it's super powerful.
Throughout the interview, Penn State head coach James Franklin continually mentions that Penn State football is a great program, but they aren't elite...yet. They lost to an elite program in Ohio State, by one point. Franklin says the little things will allow them to take this big step forward, and he claimed that he will begin holding himself, his coaching staff, and his athletes to a higher standard because they are currently settling for being just great.
Franklin isn't wrong. Penn State has been in the mix for a few years now, mentioned in the top teams but can't quite get over that hump. Some think this was a made as a distraction from discussing plays that seemed to have ruined Penn State's chances at victory. Franklin still answered questions about these plays, taking full responsibility for the call on Penn State's fourth and five, wishing he would have called something different. He also mentioned the fourth and one earlier in the game that they didn't convert, admitting that in hindsight they should have kicked the field goal. You have to remember though, hindsight is always 20/20 vision, and every wrong decision looks even worse, especially to an emotional fan after a loss.
Franklin talks about having to "babysit" the players, I'm going to assume, although Franklin is an emotional coach and this seems a bit harsh, that there is truth in this statement. If that is the case then Penn State isn't elite yet, and I'm not even going to go so far to assume that Ohio State coaching staff doesn't have to "babysit" their athletes at points. But if Penn State has to coach some of the intangibles and other teams don't, that is where other teams can get an edge— the slightest of edge, but we lost by the slightest of a point.
It's a stretch to put a devastating loss in arguably the biggest game in all of college football on the intangibles, but I do think that they matter. I also think Franklin is genuine about this, and he made it very clear that he was going to get everyone onto the same page and that page is a whole new level from what they have been on because that's what it is going to take to be elite. I gained a lot of respect for Coach Franklin and what he has planned for the future of Penn State football after watching this interview.
