CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The questions flew toward James Franklin the way they haven’t before.
These weren’t questions about the future. These were questions about moments, curious moments that led to a head-scratching, 16-14 Penn State loss to struggling Illinois on Saturday that seemed to bite in a way few have for the undermanned Nittany Lions the last few seasons.
With players, fans and coaches alike looking for answers after Penn State’s promising late-season win streak died at two at windswept Memorial Stadium, the Nittany Lions’ first-year head coach did his best to offer them after the defeat.
But, as he pointed out, the realities that come along with those answers might not be something anyone particularly wants to hear.
“We’ve got some things we’ve got to get cleaned up,” Franklin said. “It was not a good day. I did not do a good enough job.”
Physical errors are often ones shaken off by coaches as regrettable, but easily correctable. And they certainly had their say in the loss.
Holder Chris Gulla bungled a perfect snap on a would-be 20-yard field-goal attempt in the first quarter. Later in the half, an offside penalty on lineman Evan Schwan gave the Illini a first down on a fourth-and-3 when they were lined up to punt, which led to a touchdown.
But there were a slew of strategic decisions Franklin had to answer for in the moments after the loss as well.
The biggest was the decision to punt the ball away on fourth-and-inches from the Lions’ 41 with less than two minutes to play. A first down would have enabled Penn State to potentially run out the clock, but the way Penn State has had to play games this season, Franklin maintained the safe play was to put the defense on the field and hope to get a stop.
They didn’t get it, though. Illinois marched 54 yards in seven plays, getting a game-winning, 36-yard field goal from David Reisner just 1:40 in game action later.
“Our defense has been playing great all year,” Franklin said of that decision. “You punt the ball. You make them go earn it. If we go for it on fourth-and-1 and we don’t get it, everyone is in here talking about how stupid I am.
“I thought the best decision for our program was that our defense has been playing so well all year long, you put them out there. I think that’s the right decision, and I probably would have made it again.”
Quarterback Christian Hackenberg, whose furious four-yard carry toward the sideline finished just short of the sticks on the play before the punt, didn’t say whether he lobbied to take a chance at picking up the first down.
But he added that ultimately, the decisions made by the coaching staff are only questionable if they aren’t executed by the players.
“I’m supporting whatever our coaching staff is calling in that situation,” the sophomore said. “We had a pretty good plan to pin them back deep, and we’d have loved to have been able to do it. We just would have loved to have been able to get (the first down) on the play before.”
Few of the toss-up decisions seemed to work out in Penn State’s favor.
Gulla’s snafu on the hold followed a call by offensive coordinator John Donovan to run the ball with tailback Akeel Lynch on a third-and-3 from the Illinois 4. He was stopped for a gain of just a yard.
Later, on a third-and-6 early in the fourth quarter, the Lions ran Lynch again, failing to get close to the line to gain. Franklin said the runs on third down were a conscious effort to be unpredictable, if not to take the ball away from a passing game that has struggled to get receivers open consistently.
No players publicly questioned the strategies, insisting they understood the methods behind what fans thought to be madness after the game. In the end, they said, Penn State had the lead with less than two minutes to go and its dominant defense on the field. And that, they said, was a position the coaching staff helped get them in.
“We don’t want it to come down to that at the end,” defensive end Brad Bars said. “Obviously, we want it not to be that close. But I believe in our defense and I believe in our coaches. Given the chance to do it again, I think we’ll see a different outcome.”