ALTOONA, Pa. -- This week, as many are pointing out, is perhaps the biggest game of James Franklin's coaching career, up til now.
Win this game, and it could be a springboard to the College Football Playoff. If Penn State can just get there, you'd think it would have a good chance to win the whole thing, and Franklin could become a college football legend as the first Black head coach to win a national title.
OK, so that's what's at stake Saturday at Ohio State. No sense downplaying or minimalizing it.
If Franklin can find a way to lead the Nittany Lions past the Buckeyes, he would exorcise a whole lot of demons and shut up a lot of detractors.
If Penn State loses -- dropping Franklin to 1-9 against Ohio State -- the same old things will be said about the coach yet again: That he cannot win the big games.
All of which makes it very interesting just how Penn State will try to win this game. And how Franklin himself has adapted his philosophy in a major way trying to clear a hurdle he so desperately wants and needs to clear.
He's always talked about explosive plays being extremely important, and yet this Penn State team is one of the least explosive in the country when it comes to plays of 20-plus yards. From The Athletic heading into last week's game:
The Nittany Lions are tied for 132nd — dead last among all FBS teams — with just 12 in five games. Per TruMedia, they rank 125th nationally in explosive play rate (95th), which it defines as runs of 12-plus yards and passes of 16-plus yards.
But ... Penn State just keeps on winning and destroying opponents, relying heavily on its awesome defense, which ranks No. 1 in the country, and an offense that grinds it out while not taking many chances.
"You gotta embrace who you are. This is who we are right now, and we’re doing it well," Franklin said Tuesday during a lengthy and revealing press conference.
He talked about wanting to be measured and brief in his responses, although Franklin was anything but that Tuesday in one of the longer press conferences of his tenure (more than 47 minutes). He went on several long diatribes in his responses, primarily when discussing -- and defending -- what Penn State is doing on offense.
Make no mistake: Franklin is tired of hearing the questions, the ones about the lack of a deep passing attack. His past Penn State teams have all tried to extend the field frequently, but that just hasn't been the case this season -- either by design or because the Lions simply cannot pull it off with their personnel.
If Penn State beats Ohio State playing this way, Franklin will look like a genius. He has told us all along, mind you, that he believes this team can win even when it keeps things boring on offense.
If the Lions go into Columbus and lose because they can't open up the field with their passing attack -- despite having a 5-star QB who's a potential first-round NFL pick -- then Franklin is going to get ridiculed for not developing that part of the team in time for this situation.
It's one thing to grind it out on offense while blowing out a bunch of teams with bad offenses themselves.
We're all still waiting to find out: Can the Lions beat the Buckeyes playing that style? Or Michigan down the road?
THAT is the biggest question of this season for Penn State.
Keep in mind, we are talking about THIS season. Not seven or five years ago, when the personnel was different.
Every team has its own identity. To Franklin's credit, he has adapted this season to understand that this particular team's identity and what it takes to win games is very different from the past.
"I think what you have to be careful of is you have to understand and figure out what the identity of your team is and embrace that identity no matter what the outside world is saying," Franklin said. "You have to be comfortable in your own skin and own who you are and how you have to play.
"That doesn't mean that you're not looking to improve in certain areas. I think the Iowa game is a really good example. We went in at halftime and said, look, let's not change who we are. Those runs in the first half that were going for 3 to 4 yards started to go for 8 to 10 yards.
"For me, I think (it's about) staying true to our identity and what has got us here, while still saying, OK, these are some areas where we have to improve, whether that's on offense, defense, whether that's on special teams."
Franklin then said something very interesting with regards to what we can expect to see Saturday.
"One of the big mistakes you can make is get to certain games that some people say are this or that and you try to be something that you haven't been in the previous six weeks," he said.
It seems pretty easy to read into the comment that Penn State isn't going to all of a sudden try and reinvent itself against the Buckeyes. The deep passing game has been virtually non-existent, so it's probably time to stop expecting it to appear all of a sudden.
Instead, look for Penn State's offense to continue to play conservatively, to run the ball a lot and for Drew Allar to take what the defense gives with a bunch of short throws.
Again, if it all works, Franklin will look incredibly smart.
If it doesn't work, he'll have to face the music and answer a whole lot more biting questions than he's been asked thus far.
