Penn State Nittany Lions football coach James Franklin has lost the plotline with his program and is now destined for an eight-win season at best in 2025.
Penn State’s James Franklin sent heartbreaking message on Ohio State, Michigan, warning on OSU, Indiana originally appeared on The Sporting News
The Penn State Nittany Lions are 3-2 and reeling from two straight losses to the UCLA Bruins and Oregon Ducks in Big Ten play. Instead of leading a program that brought the B1G another championship, following in the footsteps of the 2023 Michigan Wolverines and 2024 Ohio State Buckeyes, “Fire Franklin” is the headline as small-game James comes up with no cigar again in 2025.
While the Nittany Lions aren’t technically eliminated from the College Football Playoff yet, CBS Sports’ Shehan Jeyarajah predicts Penn State failing to fulfill their prophecy and instead wondering what could’ve been with Franklin forever.
Specifically, Jeyarajah predicts losses to Ohio State and the Indiana Hoosiers, which would give Franklin four losses. That’d mark the third fewest wins in a full season for a Franklin-coached team since his hiring in 2014.
“In so many ways, Penn State positioned itself as the successor to reigning champions Ohio State and Michigan. The Nittany Lions retained NFL talents. They had easy nonconference schedules. They gave themselves the opportunity to grow. It was supposed to culminate with a trip to the College Football Playoff and chance to win a national championship,” Jeyarajah wrote.
“Instead, five games into the season, the most important roster in Penn State's 21st Century is lacking. The Nittany Lions still have to play No. 1 Ohio State and No. 8 Indiana, games they will probably lose. This will go down as one of the biggest "what if" rosters in program history. With Franklin, that question will come up for years to come.”
The Nittany Lions have a winnable schedule by and large, but then again, the UCLA game was winnable until they lost 42-37 at the Rose Bowl. Road games at the Iowa Hawkeyes, Michigan State Spartans, and even Rutgers Scarlet Knights may be tougher tests than they appear.
Penn State was supposed to be worrying about earning a first-round bye, or at worst, sneaking into one of the last College Football Playoff’s final spots. Not worrying about trap games in Piscataway, New Jersey.
Franklin has lost the Buckeye-Wolverine plot and now looks destined for a permanent spot on the Nittany Lions’ hot seat.
Category: General Sports
