Franklin defends backups scoring late TD vs. West Virginia

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — When James Franklin sent Penn State’s second-string offense on the field Saturday night late in an already decided game against West Virginia, the coach wanted to let his backup quarterback go to work.

Franklin has since heard the criticism that came with backup quarterback Beau Pribula scoring a 5-yard rushing touchdown with six seconds left in the game. The touchdown, which made it a 38-15 game, was the first of Pribula’s career. The play also got loud cheers from the crowd as Penn State covered the spread.

West Virginia coach Neal Brown, whose offense went for a two-point conversion with under four minutes left in the game, took offense to Franklin’s approach late in Penn State’s 38-15 win. Pribula’s touchdown came against West Virginia’s starting defense.

“Stuff like that, what comes around goes around. At some point, it’ll come back around,” Brown said Saturday night.

Franklin said he wants to continue building depth for his roster and that his approach won’t change regardless of who is on the field.

“I believe that my responsibility in those types of situations is to get my twos in the game,” Franklin said Tuesday at his weekly news conference.

“But I think once those twos get in the game then they deserve the right and the chance to play and compete. That’s what I believe. I believe that from the opening kick to the last whistle you compete and you play. Now, if you leave your ones in, that’s a different story.”

Franklin was clearly animated and knew he’d be asked about the topic. At one point he said he had already said all he planned to about the topic, but then couldn’t help himself and added a little more detail.

“I got a bunch of other things I could say, but I’m just gonna leave it at that,” Franklin said, before continuing. “They went to Cover 0, which is hard to run when you go Cover 0. Beau should have the ability to check to our Cover 0 plan and have a chance to execute a play that has a chance to score. I’m comfortable with that.”

GO DEEPER

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(Photo: Scott Taetsch / Getty Images)