Penn State Is Taking a No Regrets Approach to the College Football Playoff

Nittany Lions coach James Franklin made an aggressive call vs. SMU and said he'll do it again.

Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin reacts during the first half against the SMU Mustangs at Beaver Stadium. / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Penn State made a decisive early move against SMU last week, leaving its offense on the field for a pivotal 4th-and-1 attempt from its own 19-yard line. The conversion fell short, primarily because of a misplayed snap, and the Mustangs took over down 14-0 in prime position to reframe the game.

Nittany Lions linebacker Dom DeLuca ended that threat with his second interception of the half, but the question about the decision still lingered. Penn State football coach James Franklin answered it squarely after his team's 38-10 win over SMU.

"I told the guys we were going to call the game aggressively on offense, defense, and special teams," Franklin said after the game. . I wanted them to play aggressively. ... Don't play on your heels, Play on your toes."

Franklin then doubled down on his position. "The guys had the decision's back, and we were able to get it done. Obviously huge plays in the game. We've got to be able to pick up 4th-and-1, and I'd call it again. I'd call it again."

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Franklin and Penn State arrive to the second round of the College Football Playoff with a no-regrets ethos and that whew moment backing it. And Franklin said that Penn State will continue its aggressive approach in Round 2 against Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. The Nittany Lions are among the Big Ten's leaders in fourth-down attempts and conversions (Boise State isn't bad, either), and offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki resolutely deploys unconventional formations and trick plays. At this point, they aren't even trick plays for Penn State anymore.

"We talk about playing to win as opposed to playing not to lose," Kotelnicki said. "Those mentalities are two totally different."

Kotelnicki's offense — with its guards in motion, tight ends in the Wildcat and tight ends even snapping the ball — self-defines as aggressive. But Franklin also has been a go-for-it coach on fourth down. The Nittany Lions ranked 15th this season in fourth-down conversion rate (69.57 percent) and a rather pedestrian T-64 in attempts. Over the past two seasons, Penn State has been a top-10 team in fourth-down conversion rate, ranking fourth in 2023. Boise State ranks 11th nationally in fourth-down conversions this season (71.43 percent).

This year, no game personified Franklin's mindset more than the trip to Minnesota. Penn State closed the game with three fourth-down conversions, including one on a now-famous fake punt. Franklin wants the aggressive mindset to filter throughout the team.

"We have talked about that a lot with the players," Franklin said. "We talked about that a lot with the staff, in terms of how we call the game, how we prepare for the game, how we game plan: players being aggressive, playing on their toes, not on their heels. Making aggressive calls. Instead of going for the PBU, go for the interception. Going forward on fourth down, we want to be aggressive as we possibly can. That's if we got a play-action pass or a shot play or a trick play on offense, we want to use those. Whether it's defensively, you saw us a bunch and cover zero and going after the offense. We want to be very aggressive. We don't want to have any regrets."

Franklin said he has pressed that mindset during this postseason run. The Nittany Lions are 1-1 this postseason, having lost to Oregon in the Big Ten title game, but they did so with an aggressive approach in that game as well.

"I think the biggest thing is, just no regrets," Franklin said. "We don't want to sit in the locker room after the game and have a, ‘would have, should have, could have.’ We want to be aggressive. More times than not this year, those things have helped us. There's been a few times where it hasn't worked out, and there's also been a few times where it hasn't worked out. But the other side of the ball has had the other side of the offense, defense, or special teams' backs, and made the decision right."

Penn State meets Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year's Eve at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, California. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.

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