Penn State football: Pittsburgh coach Pat Narduzzi backs James Franklin in injury debate

Whether fake or not, injuries are often utilized in college football to slow down up-tempo offenses without expending a valuable timeout. Penn State appeared to do it in Saturday’s clash against Iowa, and coach James Franklin has since come under some heat for it.

“Lot of talk about cramps and tempo this week,” Narduzzi said Thursday, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Johnny McGonigal. “I don’t agree with James Franklin on a whole bunch, but James I’ve got your back. When you’re not playing a fast tempo offense, a team that huddles  that’s a bunch of baloney.”

Saturday’s game between Iowa and Penn State held major ramifications in the Big Ten and nationally, as the Hawkeyes are now up to No. 2 in the polls after beating the Nittany Lions 23-20 at home. At certain points in the game, Iowa fans booed Penn State players who went to the ground with apparent injuries when the Hawkeyes had the ball  the implication being that they felt the players were faking or exaggerating injuries to try to stop Iowa’s momentum.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz was asked about that situation on Tuesday during his weekly press conference ahead of the Hawkeyes game against Purdue. “Football’s a hard, competitive, tough game and fans are into it just like everybody else is into it,” Ferentz said. “First of all, I know a couple of players were legitimately hurt. I know that.

I saw one sitting on the bench. I know he had an ice bag on his leg. Obviously the quarterback didn’t come back, so I hope those guys are well. I don’t know what their status is. Nobody wants to see anybody get hurt. Nobody. But I think probably it’s a reaction to the there were a couple of guys who were down for the count and then were back a play or two later. Our fans aren’t stupid. They’re watching. They know what’s going on.

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