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Georgia will see a familiar face on sidelines in Penn State’s James Franklin
By Tom Brew
Published:
Georgia doesn’t have much of a history with Penn State, having only met once ever. It was a doozy, of course, because it was No. 1 vs. No. 2 Penn State in the 1983 Sugar Bowl for all the marbles.
But that’s been it. Just one meeting between two storied programs in all those years.
When the two teams get together for the TaxSlayer Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla., on Jan. 2, there will at least be some familiarity for the Bulldogs. Strolling the Penn State sidelines is head coach James Franklin, who’s in his second year at Penn State after three successful seasons at Vanderbilt.
The Bulldogs remember him well there, because he doled out some serious pain to Georgia in 2013. In fact, one of the biggest reasons why Penn State wanted the successful Franklin so much is because he is capable of winning big games, and the biggest game he won at Vanderbilt was a 31-27 win over then No. 15 Georgia in Nashville. It was the cherry on top of a second-straight 9-4 season for the Commodores, a successful run that made him one of the hottest coaches in America.
When Penn State came calling, he wasn’t about to say no. And it was all because of the success he had at Vandy … and at the expense of the Bulldogs.
At the time, Vandy was 0-3 in the SEC and 3-3 overall. The Bulldogs had lost their season opener to No. 8 Clemson 38-35 but then had reeled off four straight wins – including big wins over South Carolina and LSU, who were both in the top 10 at the time. They played poorly on defense and lost to Missouri 41-26 and came to Vandy the next week to get well, much like many teams have through the years. Georgia, after all, had beaten Vandy 48-3 the previous year.
But Franklin and the Commodores had different ideas this time around. Behind Jerron Seymour’s late score with 2:53 left, Vandy scored 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to erase a 13-point deficit and shock the Dogs.
How important was it for Vandy? After losing to Texas A&M the next week, the confident Commodores reeled off five straight wins to end the season, including a bowl win over Houston.
The nine-win season was their second in a row. In all the years of Vanderbilt football, the Commodores had never had back-to-back seasons of nine wins or more. Not once.
Franklin hasn’t had the same magic yet at Penn State. They were 7-6 in his first year, beating Boston College in a bowl game. The Nittany Lions are 7-5 this year. So far in Big Ten play, Franklin is just 6-10, which has been disappointing. Penn State is still recovering from sanctions brought on by the whole Jerry Sandusky scandal, but they’re hoping to be heading in the right direction.
They think James Franklin is their guy. Georgia fans would agree that they’ve got the right man. They remember the pain. And some would argue the Bulldogs haven’t been the same since then.
Tom Brew is an award-winning journalist and author who is covering SEC football for Saturday Down South.
