Paul Finebaum believes the Penn State Nittany Lions' loss to the UCLA Bruins was the worst he's ever seen, and predicts losses to the Indiana Hoosiers and Ohio State Buckeyes.
Paul Finebaum sends horrified message on Penn State’s loss to UCLA, predicts IU and OSU to beat Nittany Lions originally appeared on The Sporting News
Paul Finebaum believes the Penn State Nittany Lions’ 42-37 loss to the UCLA Bruins at the Rose Bowl on Saturday was the worst loss he’s ever seen in college football. Finebaum did concede it isn’t actually the worst loss in history, but shared his sinking feeling.
In the process, Finebaum joked at James Franklin’s expense for the UCLA loss not even affecting his record against top-10 teams. Of course, losing to a previously winless Bruins squad was far worse than any big-game moment.
Finebaum also predicted losses to the Indiana Hoosiers at Beaver Stadium and the Ohio State Buckeyes at the “Shoe.” Finebaum doesn’t believe the Nittany Lions could even keep things close in Columbus.
“The good news for James Franklin is that it doesn’t affect his record against top-10 teams, so he caught a break on that front,” Finebaum said Sunday on The Matt Barrie Show. “The bad news is that while it’s not statistically the worst loss of all time, I think Pete Carroll and USC losing to Jim Harbaugh and Stanford 15 or 20 years ago goes down, but it feels like the worst loss I have ever seen.
“I think, for James Franklin, it is going to haunt him. Because what does he have to do now – run the straight of Indiana and Ohio State? What reason would any person have to think he could beat Ohio State in Columbus now?”
James Franklin may not be long for Penn State
The industry has little hope in Franklin making things right in University Park, Pennsylvania. NBC Sports’ Nicole Auerbach predicts Franklin will take a look at the job market during the next hiring cycle this upcoming offseason.
“As I wrote on Saturday night, I’m not entirely sure where Penn State goes from here. It’s one thing to lose to the best teams on your schedule and another thing entirely to become the first top-10 team in four decades to lose to an opponent that was 0-4 or worse. I do wonder if it would be best for both parties if James Franklin takes a serious look at the Power 4 jobs that open this cycle; his buyout to leave State College is small, and he’d get a clean slate somewhere else. Franklin is a really good program-builder, and a lot of schools will be looking for that (and perhaps be willing to pay something similar to what he makes now). He doesn’t have to live under a magnifying glass and coach in front of fans who chant how much they want him gone. He could decide to start anew, if he wants, at the end of the season,” Auerbach wrote.
Consecutive losses to the Bruins and Oregon Ducks, the latter at the White Out no less, have Franklin on the ropes.
Losses to Indiana and Ohio State, and in particular, bad ones, shut the door on his tenure altogether.
Category: General Sports
