James Franklin is never one to be blunt. So when he is, it probably means there was just no getting around the question.
Franklin didn't use a timeout — he had all three — after Northwestern converted a third-and-5 to reach the Penn State 24 with 1:06 remaining in the game. The Wildcats drained the clock and ran a play, and Franklin used his first timeout with 22 seconds left, then the next two on the two ensuing plays, but it was too late. Mike Mitchell hit a 36-yard field goal with nine ticks left to give Northwestern a 23-21 lead and the win after Penn State fumbled trying to conjure up a miracle when it got the ball back.
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"I should've burned a timeout there. I should've burned a timeout right away," Franklin told reporters after the game. "That's my missed opportunity. I didn't make a play there. I should have called the timeout, no doubt about it."
It was a frustrating loss for Penn State, which at 7-2 entering Saturday, may have cracked the College Football Playoff's Top 25 with a win at No. 21 Northwestern. The Nittany Lions didn't lead until the beginning of the fourth quarter after a sluggish start — Christian Hackenberg was 3 of 12 for 19 yards in the first quarter and they ended the first half down 20-7. They allowed a kick return for a touchdown, and cornerback Grant Haley dropped an interception then blew a coverage on third-and-15 of that same drive. Franklin's team didn't play its best.
There's no telling if Hackenberg would have lead his team back had he gotten the time, but he never had the chance. And that falls on Franklin, who admitted as much.
Of course, there's a flipside. There's always one. Maybe Franklin wanted to let the clock run and put the game in the hands of a kicker who had missed two field goals and an extra point. Maybe he trusted his defense enough to hold that field goal attempt to 40 yards or more.
But Franklin didn't dodge the question or rationalize it with that logic. He admitted the mistake — one in his fifth year as a Power 5 coach, he simply can't make, whether he was mentally napping, unaware of the situation or just not decisive enough to make his choice and stick with it.