ATLANTA | Ole Miss brought a 6-foot basketball hoop to the Peach Bowl, one with a Nittany Lion logo on the backboard. It’s become a sideline tradition for the Rebels: Players punctuate big moments (touchdowns, interceptions, etc.) by dunking on the opponent’s logo. Ole Miss dunked on Penn State a lot in the Peach Bowl, before and after the game.
The Rebels seemed to have a good week in Atlanta. Coach Lane Kiffin’s son sprayed a fire extinguisher into the air on the sideline before the game. They dunked often. Kiffin even participated in a pregame social media trolling of the Nittany Lions, who really didn’t appreciate it.
Then there was Penn State coach James Franklin. His team lost to Ole Miss 38-25, and Franklin found several reasons. Penn State spent the past month shuffling “just too many moving parts” with gameday coaching changes and player opt-outs that left it frayed at finding answers. Franklin also found the officiating “less than desirable,” referencing a first-quarter series that ended with a field goal because, Franklin thought, the crew missed a pass-interference call.
“I could list out a number of examples,” Franklin said. “That’s a big play in that game at a critical moment. Starting out with a touchdown rather than a field goal is significant. But I’ll move on.”
Franklin was matter-of-fact about the root issues of this disappointing bowl performance, which many fans won’t want to hear. Yes, opt-outs and snap limits affected Penn State far more than Ole Miss. The Lions didn’t have their two future NFL cornerbacks, Kalen King and Johnny Dixon, which Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart, tight end Caden Prieskom and receiver Tre Harris turned into 394 yards passing. The Lions also didn’t have All-American left tackle Olu Fashanu, which Ole Miss defensive end Jared Ivey turned into a defensive MVP performance.
Additionally, defensive starterss like Adisa Isaac and Curtis Jacobs played in rotations. So did offensive starters Caedan Wallace and Theo Johnson. That’s a lot of adjustment, even though Franklin said through December that he had a good plan for keeping everyone happy and engaged. Factually, Franklin is correct. But on Saturday, after the loss, the explanation tiptoed slightly into excuse-making.
“We had significant players that have played all year long that weren’t in that game,” Franklin said. “I don’t want this to come off the wrong way. I’m not criticizing, but it is what it is. It’s the reality. I think about guys that did play in the game and how appreciative we are.”
Franklin went further regarding the opt-outs, saying that he senses Penn State needs to have “some discussions” about them.
“You look at year’s game [the Rose Bowl, in which cornerback Joey Porter Jr. was the only opt-out] and this year’s game, it was different, and we need to have some healthy discussions about that as a staff an as a team and how we want to operate moving forward,” Franklin said.
The expanding College Football Playoff should dictate those conversations next season, as players will be less likely to opt-out with a national championship at stake. And players deserve the to dictate their own terms of bowl-game participation. But Franklin has spent the past two weeks being coy about player availability, ostensibly preventing Ole Miss from obtaining too much roster information. It also might have altered expectations, of fans and even players, about the game.
For instance, safety Jaylen Reed said he was unaware that Kalen King was opting out until Saturday. As a result, Penn State plucked freshmen cornerbacks Zion Tracy and Elliott Washington II from their primary roles on special teams to face perhaps the best passing offense the team has played this season. Franklin’s right, that’s a tough ask. Yet it’s no different than if those starters had been injured against Indiana. In fact, Penn State had three weeks to ready its young players for this bowl game.
Franklin clearly doesn’t believe players should opt out of bowl games to preserve their professional opportunities. And yet Franklin and his staff can do the same thing. Players celebrated Manny Diaz becoming the head coach at Duke, but Franklin bristles at his players opting out. The standards are double.
“There’s a lot you don’t see that plays a factor into the game,” Isaac said, “but at the end of the day, you’ve still got to get the job done.”
Rosters matter, results matter. Penn State didn’t have the roster to produce the result in the Peach Bowl. Franklin was right about that. As a result, Kiffin and Ole Miss had a much better time Saturday, and Franklin returned to State College to begin the long process of revising that roster for 2024.