Does James Franklin Care Enough About The Gorgeous, Coveted Land-Grant Trophy?
Since calling the Land-Grant Trophy the “most beautiful trophy in all of college football” in 2017, James Franklin has been awfully quiet about college football’s greatest prize, awarded to the winner of the annual Big Ten matchup between Michigan State and Penn State.
Franklin is 1-4 in Land-Grant Trophy contests in his career at Penn State, but to be fair, it is one of the hardest trophies to win. Even the greatest college football coach of all time, Nick Saban, holds a losing 2-3 record in Land-Grant Trophy games.
What is more concerning is how Penn State has lost — especially in its last two meetings with Michigan State. The Nittany Lions have completely unraveled in the fourth quarter against the Spartans in each of the past two years.
Penn State’s offense has been nearly non-existent in crunch time when the Land-Grant Trophy is on the line, so it’s fair to wonder if the team loses sight of the gravity of the situation — and that falls on coaching.
When asked after practice on Wednesday if he had any extra motivation to win this week after the trophy has eluded him the past two years, Franklin replied with a flat “no.”
In some ways, this is like a head coach saying he has no extra motivation to win the Super Bowl. Except, in this case, there is a much more beautiful and prestigious trophy on the line.
The Land-Grant Trophy itself put a more positive spin on the coach’s answer, pointing out that the Land-Grant Trophy is the only thing that gets Franklin and the team out of bed every day, so it is simply impossible to be more motivated this week.
Of course, Franklin preaches a weekly 1-0 mindset, treating each week like it’s the Super Bowl Land-Grant Trophy game. That must-win mentality is great mindset to have, but it falls apart when your team doesn’t understand the benchmark for a must-win game.
When asked about the locker room’s opinion on the Land-Grant Trophy, redshirt sophomore offensive linemen Mike Miranda said, “I don’t even know what that is, to be honest.”
After being reminded about the sexy block of wood that is Penn State and Michigan State’s rivalry trophy, Miranda said softly, “We want to win the game — that’s about it.”
HOW CAN ANY MEMBER OF YOUR TEAM POSSIBLY NOT KNOW WHAT THE LAND-GRANT TROPHY IS, JAMES FRANKLIN?!
Larry Johnson would be devastated if he found out that this is what Penn State football’s locker room culture has turned into in 2019.
DO IT FOR THE : LAND
— Larry Johnson (@2LarryJohnson7) November 26, 2016
DO IT FOR THE : GRANT
DO IT FOR THE :#PSUvsMSU
If I was the coach of Penn State football, I would show this video at the start of each team meeting all season, just to make sure the whole team is on the same page.
This trophy is the only trophy that matters — this game is the only game that matters. Treat every other week like its the Land-Grant Trophy game. Convince yourself that your goal is to win 15 Land-Grant Trophies every season.
Whatever it takes, just get your priorities in order, Coach.
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