Penn State Football: Where does James Franklin go from here?

Here we are again after another inexplicable Penn State football loss. James Franklin’s squad found another unusual way to lose a football game. This time in a record-setting nine overtimes to 2-5 Illinois.

As a quick aside to this discussion about the future of Franklin, the new overtime rule of trading 2 point conversion tries starting in the the third overtime is a horrible way to end the game. It is way too much of a gimmick. However this is not the reason why Penn State lost.

A second loss of the season after their first loss is a recurring theme of the James Franklin era in Happy Valley. In 2017 after losing to Ohio State by a point, the Nittany Lions followed it up with a three point loss to Michigan State. History repeated itself the following season with back to back losses to the Buckeyes and Spartans, prompting me to write this.

Franklin’s teams are 3-6 coming off a bye week since the 2014 season, a season that featured a double bye. Coming off their first loss of the season, Penn State is 3-5. These trends are not what elite teams do.

After the Indiana loss last season, I wrote this. Again I questioned if Franklin is the right coach for Penn State. You might say that’s three strikes and he should be shown the door but I’ve been an ardent defender of Franklin. He’s a great recruiter and great seller of Penn State as a program and school. Changes do need to happen however if he wants to stay.