Michigan football: James Franklin gives more clarity on latest comments

Earlier this week, Penn State football head coach James Franklin had some interesting comments about certain teams in the Big Ten and their easier non-conference scheduling. After a few cut-up quotes emerged on Twitter, some major outlets ran with hit pieces without hearing the entire quote and understanding the context of what James Franklin said — a bit of homework clarifies that, instead of insulting Michigan football and others, Franklin was giving praise. Yesterday, the Nittany Lions’ head coach clarified his statements.

Michigan football: James Franklin gives more clarity on schedule comments

Earlier this week, Penn State football coach James Franklin had social media on fire with his comments about a few certain Big Ten programs. While he didn’t mention anyone by name, it’s pretty clear that he was talking about Michigan football and Indiana, prompting some backlash after a few quotes were cut up and posted by high-ranking reporters and outlets. The issue? Franklin’s full quotes reveal a completely different story — he was not insulting anyone; rather, he was complimenting them.

Yesterday, Franklin fired back at the national media for taking his quotes out of context and clarified that he is in support of what Michigan football and others are doing when it comes to scheduling.

“It can be frustrating and a little sad sometimes when you have non-media members, but they have some social media presence, and they put something out that is not accurate,” James Franklin said. “And then some national media don’t read the transcript, or don’t watch the interview, and then they put something out there.

“Anybody that watched the entire interview or anybody that read the whole transcript, I was actually complimenting the schools from a scheduling perspective,” he continued. “It’s what we’ve been doing. Even in the question that was asked to me, that’s what was said,” Franklin said. “So I know every fan base and different school is looking for a reason to get angry and get mad and get motivated or something. But that, to me, is disappointing when real media members grab a partial quote and use it out of context; that’s frustrating and disappointing.”

One last shot at national media for the lack of context

James Franklin made sure to add one last shot at the media that took his words out of context.

“To me, you can’t control the person that just has their own little social media page or whatever and they’re doing it from their mom’s basement,” he said.  “I can’t really control that person. But it’s disappointing when I think some respected national and other people put things out that are inaccurate and don’t do the homework of actually watching the interview or reading the transcript.”

For years, Penn State football has been scheduling easy non-conference teams in order to gain more wins come College Football Playoff time. While the Nittany Lions are yet to actually make the CFP, Franklin has been in support of what Michigan football has been doing (scheduling-wise) for quite some time now — his statements were not insults at anyone; rather, he was giving praise.

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