Penn State Ends 2020 Season on Its Own Terms

Penn State rightly left the bowl decision to its players, who chose to take a break instead.

Brent Pry, Penn State's defensive coordinator, went to head coach James Franklin's house on a Thursday night a few weeks ago. Normally, Franklin's house buzzes with players, food, football and his daughters on Thursdays nights during the season.

This time, Pry noticed primarily the quiet. Franklin instead spent his Thursdays folding socks and long-distance video-chatting with his daughters, whom he has see in person only once since March.

"Walking in his house and knowing that his family hadn’t been there since March 1, it was tough," Pry said.

So now, after a prescribed five-day quarantine, Franklin can be with wife Fumi and daughters Shola and Addy for Christmas. And his players can go home to their parents and friends, not having to worry about getting swabbed before 7 a.m. every day and whether that test will be positive.

After playing football for nine consecutive weeks, something only one other Big Ten team did this season, the Lions voted Saturday to end their season. Given the option of playing a contract bowl game on Dec. 26 or Dec. 30 in Charlotte or Nashville or Arizona, the players instead decided that their 56-21 win over Illinois was a fitting finale to 2020.

Franklin and Athletic Director Sandy Barbour said they were fine with that.

"Very few teams have handled playing during the pandemic as well as our program has, which fills me with Penn State pride," Barbour said. "Our student-athletes will now have the opportunity for a well-deserved break to enjoy time with their families before returning for the spring semester."

When Penn State was 0-5, the prospect of a bowl game seemed ludicrous. But the Lions clawed back into viability and, with four consecutive wins, actually became one of the more desirable Big Ten teams for bowl selection.

Certainly the Guaranteed Rate Bowl (in Phoenix on Dec. 26), or the Duke's Mayo Bowl (in Charlotte on Dec. 30) or the Music City Bowl (in Nashville on Dec. 30) would have loved to bring in Penn State, even with its losing record. Those bowls don't often get chances at Penn State and, with some spectators being allowed into games, certainly would have moved tickets to a fan base that hadn't attended a game this season.

But this decision belonged to the players. They've been essentially quarantined in State College since June (save for a week in August when the season was canceled) and have lived a college experience even more separate than normal from the student population.

The Lions played through season-ending injuries to teammates, a career-ending medical condition (for running back Journey Brown) and were "razor thin" health wise, Franklin said Saturday. They also endured an unprecedented losing streak that began when Indiana quarterback Michael Penix Jr. may or may not have touched the end-zone pylon in overtime.

Some of those players sounded spent a few weeks ago, even after the win streak began. Defensive end Shaka Toney, a first-team All-Big Ten selection, said fans "don't know the half" of what players have undergone.

"Pump your brakes before you start judging us," Toney said. "Mentally, this has been so tough. And you add on losing, we're already going through so much. Be happy that at least you get to watch football this year.

So it's right that they decided when the season would end. Players have been tested daily for three months, fretting over false positives and confining themselves within their football community.

For the Senior Day game against Michigan State, seniors grabbed some quick photos with their parents, then watched them leave Beaver Stadium before the national anthem. Their lives, as defensive tackle Antonio Shelton, have centered solely on school and football, even more than usual.

Then there's Franklin. In order to protect their daughter Addison, who has Sickle cell disease, Franklin and his wife Fumi agreed to live apart this season. Fumi and their two daughters are living in a family home in the South.

Franklin saw his daughters at every home game, though only as cardboard cutouts in the Beaver Stadium stands. When his family surprised him for a television interview before the Ohio State game, Franklin nearly cried.

The coach video-chatted with his daughters during his weekly pregame walks around quiet stadium fields. The separation clearly weighed on him this season.

"One of the things I have not done a great job of handling personally, that I have to be honest with myself and honest with the team about, is I have not done a great job of managing my family being gone. I have not," Franklin said earlier this season. "They're my fuel. I go home, they're able to pour into me, and I've not done a great job of that. At the end of the day, I have to. I have to manage those things."

After Saturday's game, Franklin said that he has to quarantine for five days even before seeing his family again. If Sunday counts as Day 1, Franklin can be with them on Christmas.

Certainly that's worth more than the $200,000 bonus his contract includes for playing in a bowl game.

Penn State played messy football on the field, losing two games (to Nebraska and Maryland) that it should have won. The team remained dazed after the opening-week gut punch against Indiana and didn't shake that until Week 6 against Michigan. But the past four weeks, it played pretty good football.

Off the field, though, Penn State deserves high praise for managing its pandemic protocols without missing a game or, as far as the public knows, even one practice. Franklin's primary frustration regarding COVID-19 was the number of false-positive test results (66 through this week) that his team generated during the season.

"We’re one of the safest teams in the country," Pry said. "I joke with the guys, we're getting the COVID trophy, a big swab with 'Championship' underneath it, because we get it, man."

So Penn State called its own shot Saturday night with a satisfying victory at home, after which the players can decompress for a month before beginning winter workouts in January. They're still not promised anything normal for 2021, but at least they left 2020 on their terms.

"I believe it was 100 percent worth it," receiver Jahan Dotson said.

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