This story is a couple of days old, but it’s an interesting one with a new quote to add.

If you watched Penn State dispatch West Virginia on Saturday night, the Nittany Lions covered the 20.5 spread by scoring a touchdown with less than 10 seconds on the clock. They were up 31 to 15 at that point and had their backups in the game following a WVU score and two point conversion.

Some people did not realize the context of the situation, or even if they did, still lamented the thought that PSU was running up the score or being a bad winner by deciding not to take a knee. WVU coach Neal Brown, who has the moxie of a ham sandwich, said this:

First things first – when you’ve got playoff aspirations, every point counts. Winning 38 to 15 looks better to the committee than winning 31 to 15. You could begin and end the conversation right there.

But Franklin had a measured response to that criticism, saying this at his Tuesday press conference, via Alex Rocco on Twitter:

That is a fair and reasonable explanation.

It’s also worth noting that West Virginia’s 1s first team offense scored against Penn State’s second team defense, then Neal Brown ran some goofy ring around the rosy bullshit two-point conversation before trying an onside kick. PSU’s backups then came down the field and responded to the score, so Franklin is justified in allowing his second stringers to play out the clock after WV tried to extend the game and pull off a miracle.

Penn State didn’t look amazing in the first half of this game. They missed a couple of field goals and only took a 14-7 lead into halftime. It could have very easily been 14-14 if WVU’s offense made a couple of plays. But Drew Allar and the PSU defense cranked it up a notch in the second half for a good home win against a Power 5 team.

Neal Brown should be complaining about nothing. When “stuff like that comes back around” he’s not even gonna be here, because the program stinks, buddy. We went from 70 points in the Orange Bowl to no bowl games at all. Maybe next time don’t call a ridiculous trick play on 4th and 2 in Penn State territory. If you thought the Sixers had loser energy, try being a WVU football fan and watching this guy coach. He makes 2018-2019 Mike Groh look like an offensive genius.

Plus, if someone just makes this tackle, then there is no controversy: