In his career as a Head Coach or as on Offensive Coordinator:
How many times per game do you think Franklin's offense ran a "read-option" play?
I'll give you a hint....
In two years as OC at Kansas State, his Quarterbacks had a grand total of -60 (that is MINUS 60) yards rushing
In three years as OC at Maryland, his Quarterbacks had a grand total of 141 yards rushing (and that is only because Jamar Robinson, a seldom-used change of pace QB, has 326 yards rushing. The regular QBs had -185 combined over 3 years)
In three years as HC at Vanderbilt, his QBs averaged a whopping 289 yards rushing per year (most of that in one season, largely because there was no QB on the roster who was a threat throwing the ball)
So...throughout his entire career, his QBs have averaged 118 rushing yards per SEASON (and that was including rushing yards gained by "situational" QBs)
About 1/3 of what Darryl Clark ran for in 2008......about 1/8 of what Michael Robinson ran for in 2005.......and just a little less than what Tony Sacca ran for in his sophomore season.
But....somehow.....Franklin is a "running QB" guy??
The team ran a read option offense at PSU this season. What do you think they were doing when they ran Polk on the jet sweep? The beauty of a read option offense is that you can hand the ball off to the WR on the jet sweep, hand it off the to the running back, take off running yourself, or throw the ball. You have options. Hack had to read the defense and determine if he was handing the ball off. If not he pulled the ball and it was a pass play. Basically, they wasted precious seconds pretending to be a read option offense when the defense knew they could simply pin their ears back and come after Hack while he wasted time.
The problem is that Hack was not going to run. If you aren't going to run with the QB then you forget the read option all together. You stop using the WR on a jet sweep. You stop the slow hand off where Hack decides to pull the ball from the RB. The read option only works if your QB is an actual thread to run the ball. Everyone knew Hack wasn't a threat to run so it narrowed those options down. The also knew the jet sweep was a bluff 9/10 times so they could ignore it.
This team ran a terrible offense that everyone knew did not fit their personnel. It was mind boggling watching them trot out that garbage all year.
