No black coach has ever won the college football national championship. Let that sink in for a moment: Universities that profit from the sweat of Black people on the field have denied equal opportunities to Black minds on the sidelines. But as the expanded College Football Playoff hastens the end of this discriminatory era, Penn State coach James Franklin is a leading contender for one of the final “firsts” in sports.

On Saturday, Franklin’s No. 3 Nittany Lions will play the No. 1 Oregon Ducks for the Big Ten Championship. In this highly unpredictable college football season, it’s an unexpected attempt at redemption for Franklin, who was booed off the field Nov. 2 after Penn State lost 20-13 at home to Ohio State. Before the playoffs expanded to 12 teams this year, such a loss would have knocked Penn State off the championship list.

But “college football has changed,” Franklin said after that devastating loss. “We have the chance to make up for some of today’s mistakes.”

When that opportunity begins Saturday, Franklin will face a lot more injustice than what happened against Ohio State.

Franklin, 52, is on the short list of black coaches at schools that can regularly compete for a national title. Another is Marcus Freeman at 11-1 Notre Dame, which is right behind Penn State and has rebounded well from a shocking loss to Northern Illinois in Week 2. Another is Sherrone Moore with Michigan, who got Penn State into the top ten by upsetting Ohio State on November 30th. The only other black coach with a visible path to breaking the barrier is Deion Sanders in Colorado or whatever his next stop may be.

Like any smart coach, Franklin isn’t interested in talking about hypothetical championships. Earlier this season, when I visited various campuses and spoke with Black coaches, Franklin politely declined my interview request. His reaction was not unlike what I’ve heard from Moore or Freeman – they’re focused on the weekly pressure cooker that is the top level of college football.

“We just have to focus on playing Maryland this week,” Franklin said before Penn State’s final game of the regular season. “And if we don’t focus on that, a lot of these other things that everyone else wants to talk about become questionable. These things become challenging. These things are going to be different.”

Things like writing history can become a distraction. Especially for a coach who, as the light-skinned, bald son of a black father and white mother, doesn’t automatically identify as black.

But Franklin is actually a brother with a strong black family tree and two daughters with his black wife. His father, James Oliver Franklin, was in the Air Force when he met Jocelyn Franklin in her native England. They escaped to Ireland, moved to Pennsylvania and soon separated. Oliver virtually disappeared from his son’s life, but Jocelyn Franklin remained in close contact with the black side of the family, including the adorably named aunts LaWanda, Romaine, and Melbadene.

“I think my background is one of my greatest advantages as a professional because it has helped me connect and empathize with people from different backgrounds in a unique way,” Franklin told The Players Tribune in 2017.

After playing quarterback at Division II East Stroudsburg, Franklin began his coaching career in the backcountry of college football before getting his big break in 2000 when he became the receivers coach at Maryland. In 2005, he coached receivers for the Green Bay Packers in the NFL and then served as offensive coordinator at Kansas State and Maryland. In 2011, he was named coach at Vanderbilt, where three successful seasons earned him the position at Penn State University in 2014.

Penn State was still trying to resolve the sexual abuse scandal that victimized boys during legendary coach Joe Paterno’s tenure. Franklin managed to lead the proud program, which won two national championships, out of that tainted era. But he struggled to break into college football’s elite class, dominated by a handful of schools.

The home loss to Ohio State that season – in front of 111,030 fans, the largest crowd in Beaver Stadium history – dropped his record against the Buckeyes to 1-10. Penn State scored first with 6:43 left in the game, but was overloaded up the middle on three straight runs and then failed to even get a throw to tight end Tyler Warren, one of the best players in college. Football, to perform. Penn State’s defense could have given them another chance to tie or win the game, but Ohio State started from its own 1-yard line and ran out the final 5:13 of the game with 11 consecutive soul-sucking runs.

The criticism hit like a bone-breaking stick. “Mid Game James” became an issue again. The ugly numbers rained down: Franklin is 1-13 at Penn State against opponents ranked in the top five. He is 3-18 against top 10 teams and 13-27 against teams in the top 25.

What better way to flip that narrative than against No. 1 Oregon on Saturday? Only then could Franklin think about making history.