James Franklin calls out 'lopsided' penalties, officiating in Big Ten Championship loss to Oregon

INDIANAPOLIS — James Franklin already had plenty of beef with Kole Knueppel, the referee of Saturday’s Big Ten Championship officiating crew, before kickoff.

Knueppel led the crew for Penn State’s 20-13 loss against Ohio State in early November, a game in which Franklin was constantly lobbying against Knueppel and his crew about calls they made — or didn’t.

While the crew behind Knueppel was different, Franklin’s list of complaints still grew exponentially Saturday during a 45-37 loss to No. 1 Oregon.

“I don’t want this to come off the wrong way. I give Oregon a ton of credit, but the penalties were pretty lopsided, and I have more of an issue with the ones that could have been reviewed,” Franklin said postgame. “The non-reviewable ones, they’re gonna happen. But the ones that need to be reviewed, need to be reviewed, in my opinion.”

Franklin was right in at least one regard, as Penn State had five accepted penalties against it for 65 yards while Oregon had three accepted for just 24 yards. The Nittany Lions committed 15-yard facemask penalties on both of Oregon’s first two drives, and two 15-yard unnecessary roughness calls came down by the beginning of the second quarter.

The 11th-year Penn State coach in his response, though, was specifically referencing a fourth-quarter call in which officials ruled incomplete a 9-yard pass from Drew Allar to Omari Evans that clearly was completed.

Franklin pushed for officials to buzz in a review of the play, while he said they pushed back for him to slow things down and call a timeout to challenge. Knowing the timeout could be valuable later on, Franklin was hesitant. Penn State then threw an incomplete pass on second down before needing a big third-and-10 conversion from Allar to Harrison Wallace III.

Allar and Wallace hooked up again in the end zone on a crazy fourth-and-10 play, where Allar was in the grasp of an Oregon defender while lasering a pass in Wallace’s direction.

Penn State scored on the drive, so Evans’ missed completion might not have mattered. But if faced with second-and-1 instead of needing to gain 10 yards, maybe Penn State’s play calling would have changed? Maybe the Lions could have scored faster and altered their late-game plan?

“I thought it was a catch, and looking on the Jumbotron, it looked like it was a catch. And I get you’re going to miss some calls, but it’s two minutes. Everybody says, ‘OK, well slow down so they can review the call.’ It’s a two-minute drive. You can’t slow down in a critical game like that,” Franklin said in a heated moment. “In my opinion, they should have buzzed down, and they should have checked that. Now, we’ll watch the video of it. Maybe I’m wrong. But from what I saw on the field, what I saw in the jumbotron, that was a catch. And you can’t miss those calls in these types of games, especially when you’ve got replay. Just buzz down. It’s too important.”

Franklin, to a slightly lesser extent, took issue with the finish to a third-quarter run by Allar, where he got stuck in a pile of Ducks and Nittany Lions. Oregon linebacker Bryce Boettcher spun Allar down after the whistle and seemed to give Allar an extra shove after getting up, potentially worthy of an unnecessary roughness similar to the two Penn State had been assessed. Officials didn’t see it the same way and did not throw a flag.

“There was a time late in the game where I thought they needed to protect Drew, where he was hung up in a pile and kind of got slammed down late,” Franklin said.

While those were the two plays Franklin specifically highlighted after the game, there were more than a few that could have been argued one way or another.

Punt returner Zion Tracy, while receiving the ball for Penn State’s final drive, picked up a nice chunk and set the Lions up with great field position. But officials convened and ruled that he called for a fair catch, moving the ball back at least 15 yards. He certainly waved his hand near his head, but it’s hard to say whether it was deliberately signaling for the fair catch or if his arm flailed a bit while adjusting to the kick.

Midway through the third quarter, Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel rolled to his left and pulled defenders forward on the scramble, making it easy to find eventual game MVP Tez Johnson for a long catch-and-run touchdown. But on replay, it was obvious that multiple ineligible Oregon offensive linemen were too far downfield.

One of a few game-winning plays for Oregon, Gabriel found tight end Terrance Ferguson on a fourth-and-2 early in the final quarter. Ferguson had man coverage with Penn State’s Audavion Collins, and he may have gotten away with a pushoff. It’s also possible, though, that the duo’s difference in size (Ferguson 6-5, 255 pounds and Collins 5-11, 180 pounds) made the push look worse than it was. Oregon led 38-30 at the time, and a failed conversion would’ve put Penn State in a golden position to tie the game.

Finally, Franklin was not-so-subtle, when asked about Gabriel’s effectiveness, that uncalled holding might have contributed. Penn State struggled to hurry the star quarterback and finished with just one sack despite a talented defensive front. Defensive end Abdul Carter has been the victim of plenty of uncalled holdings this entire season.

“With Abdul Carter and Dani Dennis-Sutton, we’ve been able to produce sacks and pressure, as well as [Dvon J-Thomas] and the boys inside,” Franklin said. “I could be wrong, but there wasn’t one holding call in the game. That’ll be interesting to watch.”

The Nittany Lions didn’t lose specifically because of penalties. Two costly interceptions from Allar, a defense incapable of stopping Oregon and a myriad of other reasons played important roles. But Penn State may have gotten the short end of the stick in Lucas Oil Stadium, at least as far as Franklin was concerned.

“We’ll control the things that we can control,” Franklin said. “And, obviously, that’s not one of them.”

• BETTING: Check out our guide to the best PA sportsbooks, where our team of sports betting experts has reviewed the experience, payout speed, parlay options and quality of odds for multiple sportsbooks.

• Sign up for the PennLive’s Penn State newsletters, the daily Penn State Today and the subscriber-exclusive Penn State Insider