James Franklin expresses his frustration with officiating early in the Penn State vs. Ohio State game

At the start of the first half of Saturday's game between Penn State And Ohio State, James Franklin He was seen speaking to officers multiple times, according to FOX Jenny Taft. He cited several missed calls, particularly regarding the Buckeyes' defense.

Franklin called off the referee after missing a holding call in the secondary at some point. Taft said that was consistent with what he said earlier this week about the Buckeyes' unity and whether they should receive further punishment.

“Coach Franklin was already very animated with the officials, telling them that they had missed some calls – particularly a missed hold call in the secondary – and said, 'Don't let them stop us.' “Let’s play them,” Taft said. “Franklin said earlier this week that he believes Ohio State’s secondary is getting away with too much. He became frustrated with the administration early on.”

Ohio State entered Saturday's top-five showdown with the fourth-fewest penalties in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes have averaged 4.9 flags called per game and 34 total through the first seven games of the season. Penn State has now been assessed a total of 39 penalties – an average of 5.6 through its first seven games.

There's a lot at stake for both teams in Saturday's showdown. For starters this is College Football Playoffs is still in play despite Ohio State having a loss to No. 1 Oregon and Penn State entered undefeated. There's also the race for the Big Ten Championship, especially since the Buckeyes are undefeated Indiana on their schedule.

But it's also a big game for the coaches. ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit pointed out both coaches' difficulties against top-five teams, which is why he said Ryan Day and James Franklin are are under pressureas well as.

“The winning coach here will be in a great position. Things will go well. “You look to the future,” Herbstreit continued College game day. “(The) team that loses, the coach that loses – those guys that are cheering right now, there's going to be a wrath for Penn State or Ohio State.” Ryan Day is 2-7 against the top five teams. If he loses his game, the Buckeye faithful will let it happen – the Ohio State fans will let him know. And if you look at what we've done here, I think what's (James Franklin), 1-12 against the top five?

“So someone is going to put a lot of it behind them and someone is going to have to continue to deal with it.”