James Franklin defends 2-point conversion decisions following loss to Michigan

James Franklin and Penn State came up short in Week 11, losing another game against a big-time opponent with a 24-15 loss to Michigan. While the offense of the Nittany Lions did not generate enough points to win the game, Franklin was still asked about some crucial decisions afterward.

In particular, Franklin was asked about his decision to go for a 2-point conversion after Penn State’s touchdowns. After making the score 14-9 at the end of the first half, the Nittany Lions missed on a 2-point try that would have put them down by 3 points moving forward.

Then, late in the fourth quarter, Franklin once again went for 2 points with the team trailing by 9 points. The Nittany Lions missed that try while kicking the extra point would have kept the game within one possession in the final minutes.

For Franklin, the decisions came down to points being at a premium throughout:

“We were down by 4 (if we kicked the extra point), so being able to go for 2 and get us in a position where it’s obviously a field goal gets us back in position to take the lead or to tie the game, I felt like points were going to be at a premium,” said Franklin. “These are all things we talk about before the game, we use the analytics as well as conversations with the staff. At some point, you’re going to have to score enough points, but just trying to get the game back into a one-possession game and didn’t feel like in that situation, didn’t know how many opportunities we were going to get.”

Later in his presser, Franklin was asked a follow-up specifically related to the second 2-point try:

“Again, very similar answer. We thought points were going to be hard to come by. We’re down by 4, we want to put ourselves in a position to get it back to a field goal game. Again, those were all the numbers we worked through from an analytics standpoint and our staff, everyone was comfortable with that and thought it was the right thing to do,” Franklin explained. “Obviously, we didn’t pick it up.”

The head coach was then pressed that his answer did not reflect his decision to go for 2 late in the game, but Franklin pushed back with a very similar angle to his earlier comments:

“We’re trying to get back, we’re trying to get points. We thought points were going to be hard to come by,” said Franklin.

In the end, Penn State was unable to get the ball back regardless of those decisions.

(H/T Mark Brennan)

Paul Harvey

Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.