James Franklin and the Penn State Nittany Lions got a rude welcoming to the Rose Bowl on Saturday, as the UCLA Bruins jumped ahead to a 27-7 first half lead. Penn State fought back in the second half but couldn’t complete the comeback, falling 42-37 and dropping their second game in a row.
The Nittany Lions’ defense struggled against the revitalized Bruins’ offense, that exploded for 42 points under first time play caller Jerry Neuheisel, with UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava scoring five total touchdowns against a very talented Penn State defense.
The loss raises many questions about the future of the Penn State football program, with the possibility of the university firing James Franklin, paying a $50 million buyout to bring in new leadership for the Nittany Lions. On Saturday, Franklin was complimentary of the Bruins, who stood out as the more prepared team.
“Got to give UCLA and their coaching staff a ton of credit. Got to give their quarterback a ton of credit, we obviously had a hard time stopping him all day long,” Franklin said postgame. “He had 153 (rushing) yards and a lot of those yards came at critical points. A couple times we spy’d him and when we spy’d him, he was able to either make the spy miss or run away from the spy.”
Iamaleava was tremendous with his legs but he also dropped a few of his best passes as a Bruin in the first half, helping UCLA build the 20-point lead. After losing to Oregon last week at home, it was surprising to everyone, Franklin included, how lethargic Penn State came out in the first half on Saturday.
“We did not handle last week’s loss well. We also lost some players in that game,” Franklin said. “Did not come out with the right energy to start the game and before you know it, obviously, they get a touchdown drive and an onside kick and now you’re fighting.”
Despite the lackluster showing by the Nittany Lions, Franklin attempted to fall on the sword in the postgame presser.
“That’s my responsibility and I didn’t get it done,” Franklin said of Penn State coming out flat. “We got to tune out all the outside noise. I thought our guys worked hard at doing that last week but obviously not well enough.”
Franklin sounded aware that there was going to plenty of critics harping on the team after losing to Penn State but if Penn State has any chances at a College Football Playoff run, they’ll have to stick together.
“The reality is, we didn’t play well enough in all three phases to win the game,” Franklin said. “There’s going to be a lot out there to divide, divide, divide but we got to tune all that out and stick together.”
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: James Franklin compliments Nico Iamaleava and Bruins after UCLA’s upset of Penn State
Reporting by Dylan McNeill, UCLA Wire / UCLA Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
