University Park, Pennsylvania
CNN
—

Judging by his football successes, James Franklin’s tenure at Penn State was satisfactory. A 100-41 record over 11 seasons, a Big Ten championship, a ton of players in the NFL.

But there was always one question that plagued the Nittany Lions head coach: When would he win the big game? Aside from a win over Wisconsin in the 2016 Big Ten championship game, Franklin’s Penn State teams often fell short on the biggest stages.

In front of 106,031 raucous fans, Franklin won one of those big victories in the school’s debut in the College Football Playoff on Saturday. Now there are bigger stages with brighter lights.

The Nittany Lions’ 38-10 victory over Southern Methodist University lacked drama as the home team began forcing turnovers, and the noise created by the Penn State faithful seemed to reach SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings. The Nittany Lions were simply more confident and took advantage of the Mustangs’ mistakes.

That experience — in cold weather, in Beaver Stadium, in games under pressure — has paid off for the Nittany Lions. This led to a party in the stands that lasted most of the 60 minutes of Saturday’s game and will continue all night in this quaint town tucked away in the Appalachian Mountains of central Pennsylvania – likely indoors after the conditions at University Park brought the game in every way felt as if it were happening on the first day of winter.

It was the kind of moment the Penn State community has been looking forward to for years. Fans of the Nittany Lions, one of college football’s most intense fan bases, have cringed in recent years as the team has repeatedly narrowly missed out on a spot in the College Football Playoff. But Franklin didn’t shy away from reminding the press after the game of his track record.

“We’ve been in several of them,” Franklin said of high-profile bowl games. “A dramatic pause, everyone can understand that. We starred in several of them. My family, we are used to spending Christmas in hotels. Not everyone is.”

With the expanded playoffs this season, PSU not only took the field but also won the right to host a home game. Thanks to CFP rules, they also now have a favorable quarterfinal game against Boise State University in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Eve. It’s a place Penn State feels comfortable – the program is 7-0 all-time in the desert.

Any chatter in Happy Valley about whether Franklin will be able to take this program to the heights the PSU community believes it deserves will likely have died down now. And there were rumors – TNT Sports analysts Champ Bailey and Takeo Spikes believed Saturday’s game against SMU was a must-win situation for Franklin.

“If you look at all previous years, Penn State has always finished somewhere between nine and 12 in the rankings,” Spikes told CNN Sport. “It was a high placing compared to where they are now and you are lucky to be able to play a home game. That’s what really puts the pressure on these guys, especially Coach Franklin. If you look at where they are ranked, the chances are really good that they will be successful.”

Bailey put it much more succinctly.

“He better win this game,” the Hall of Famer said. “That’s it. …You have to win this game. Yes, his career could be on the line here, at least at Penn State.”

This pressure will certainly be relieved somewhat by Franklin and his staff. But he stressed that he didn’t see the victory – a 100th milestone at Penn State – as something special that affected him.

“I appreciate you bringing up the 100 wins and all that stuff. But for me, I’ve reached a point in my career where it’s all about the players. It’s all about the players, the staff, you know,” he said.

However, offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki said the win was a result of how Franklin built the Penn State program — especially since Franklin had just made history by winning the school’s first College Football Playoff game.

“To talk about the tradition of this place, to have football as long as this place has had it, to have this state the way it is and do something that hasn’t been done here before — that’s pretty rare.” It’s pretty cool to be a part of it,” he said.

“Honestly, I feel like I’m a spoke in the flywheel he’s created here. You know I’m the offensive coordinator, that’s an important position. But honestly, he doesn’t get enough credit for what he’s consistently done here.”

For the Nittany Lions’ longtime head coach, defeating an SMU team that was the last team to make the playoffs isn’t enough.

There are still big questions about how Franklin’s teams perform under the brightest lights. At Penn State, Franklin is 1-18 against teams ranked in the top five – including a disastrous 1-10 against arch-rival Ohio State. If the Nittany Lions defeat the Broncos, the former Vanderbilt head coach won’t be able to face another top-five team until the semifinal round; Both the University of Georgia and Notre Dame are in the top five of the final College Football Playoff rankings.

“I don’t care what anyone says about me, my team or my coach. “At the end of the day, our process is our process, and at the end of the day the only opinions that matter are the ones that exist in the Lasch (football) building day in and day out,” quarterback Drew Allar said after the game.

“…And as far as Coach Franklin goes, you know, he gets a lot of criticism that’s undeserved, and he’s done a lot, a lot more than people give him credit for.” And of course it’s special to win, his 100th. to win the game. To be a part of that and to be the team that you know can bring you the 100th team win and to have him on the floor like he was in the playoffs and at home in Beaver Stadium is really special. And you know, we don’t take these moments for granted.”

But behind a balanced offense – Penn State rushed for 189 yards and passed for 136 yards against SMU on Saturday – and the sixth-ranked defense in the country, Franklin has a team that appears to be playing its best football at the right time of year. With the playoff burden successfully lifted from his shoulders, Franklin and Penn State certainly looked like a possible national champion on Saturday afternoon.

“A lot of college coaches I’ve seen this week have talked about, you know, this is a four-game season. That’s not it. “It was a one-game season, averaging 65 plays on offense, 65 plays on defense and 20 plays on special teams,” Franklin said.

He added: “We have just extended our season by another game. 65 pieces left. I think we have 10 days or whatever it may be (until the next game) and every single one of them is like gold.”