James Franklin Addresses Referee Situation That Made Him Lose Cool at End of Nevada Game

Penn State’s season opener against Nevada had all the right beats for James Franklin—46-11 final, nine scoring drives, three turnovers forced, defense looking like a brick wall. But even in a blowout, the head coach found something to bark about. And it wasn’t his quarterback, his O-line, or even the weather. Nope. It was the zebras.

With just 25 seconds left, quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer had the offense in the huddle, and then boom—delay of game flag. Franklin wasn’t buying it. Post-game presser, he laid it out straight. “The official is in the huddle holding us. Turns to the umpire, says, ‘Pump the clock.’ He doesn’t do it. Then throws a flag on us. Then I go and address it. And the same thing, he’s behind him going, I tried to tell him… wasn’t happy about that.”

Basically, Franklin felt like his guys got slapped for something that wasn’t even on them. And when the explanation he got was basically “yeah, my bad, I told him,” that just made it worse. So yeah—Franklin lost his cool a little. He even made a beeline for the officiating crew as soon as the game ended before heading over to shake hands with Nevada’s Jeff Choate.

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