James Franklin reflects on Orange Bowl loss, 2024 season: ‘I could not be prouder’ of players in Penn State football program

Penn State football saw its 2024 season come to an end with a crushing 27-24 defeat to Notre Dame in Thursday night’s Orange Bowl.

The Nittany Lions were mere minutes away from a chance at the program’s first National Championship in nearly 40 years but had the opportunity to reach the pinnacle of college football slip through its fingers.

“I wanted it for the guys,” James Franklin said after the game. “I wanted it for our players. I wanted it for the staff. I wanted it for [athletic director] Pat Kraft and [president] Neeli Bendapudi, who have been awesome, and I’ve been doing this long enough to know when we have the support from our athletic director and president. That’s been phenomenal, so I wanted it for them.

“But most importantly, I wanted it for the guys in the locker room and the staff. As you can imagine, there’s a thousand different emotions going on and feelings, but as the head coach, I’ve got to put on the right face for the guys in the locker room for what they need right now and for my family.

“And the sun will come up tomorrow, and the one thing I want to make sure that all those guys do is walk out of that locker room with their heads high and their chests out because they have a ton to be proud of.

“There’s about 128 teams that would give their right arm to have the season that we just had this year. It doesn’t feel that way right now, but there’s a ton to be proud of.”

You can watch James Franklin’s entire Orange Bowl postgame press conference on the Basic Blues Nation YouTube Channel.

Regardless of the outcome in South Beach, 2024 will go down as one of the most successful seasons in Penn State football history. The Nittany Lions set a new school record with 13 wins, part of a program-best 34-win stretch since the 2022 season. Capturing the program’s first win in the College Football Playoff, the Blue and White found themselves in the College Football Playoff Semifinal for the first time ever.

And while ultimately coming up short against Notre Dame, Franklin wants his locker room to fully appreciate what was accomplished this fall.

“You know, when you’re talking about a 16-week season now that we have in college football, there’s opportunities to bounce back from setbacks,” he said. “Notre Dame was able to do it, and we were able to do it. Kept getting better as the season went on, got better, especially the second half of the season. Some big wins, some adversity that we were able to overcome, and the guys just kept battling.

“I could not be prouder of the young men in that locker room and the staff and how they represented Penn State and the Big Ten all season long. They deserve a ton of credit. Obviously, we would have loved an opportunity to get a win tonight and then be able to watch the game tomorrow night and figure out who our next opponent was going to be.

“But again, very, very proud of our guys.”

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