Are We Giving James Franklin’s Sportsmanship Too Much Credit?
James Franklin ran down one of his players on Saturday for not shaking hands with Michigan State following the Nittany Lions' 27-24 defeat in East Lansing.
In a matter of 10 seconds, Franklin exhibited about as strong a showing of sportsmanship as you possibly can on a football field.
But are we giving him too much credit?
James Franklin has had his fair share of questionable "sportsmanship" moments in 2017 alone.
Do we not remember when he iced the kicker and preserved a 56-0 shutout victory over Georgia State? He said it was because the backups were having an issue getting lined up, but come on, it's 56-0 and fixing the formation for that one play won't make you any better overall in the long run. Especially when they're all backups.
Do we not remember when he compared beating Pittsburgh to beating Akron? You beat a rival program handily, so getting that verbal jab in during the post game press conference was definitely a must.
Yes, Franklin exhibited a high manner of sportsmanship when he sprinted after one of his players and made him return to the field to shake hands with the Michigan State Spartans.
But let's not start acting like Franklin is a saint and the epitome of what it means to be a good sport, because in this season alone, he's hinted at his fair share of the spectrum's opposite end.