It may be time for Penn State and head coach James Franklin to ponder parting ways on a mutual basis in the wake of the Nittany Lions’ debacle of a 42–37 loss Saturday to previously winless UCLA.
They should use that long plane ride from Los Angeles to State College, Pa., to plot out what exactly should happen as soon as Penn State’s disappointing campaign comes to a close during the regular season.
This cannot continue under any circumstances.
The marriage between coach and program, which should have been perfect on paper, has instead descended into a stalemate in a not-so Happy Valley right now. The next seven games can simply serve as window dressing for whatever the final terms of the divorce will be.
After coming within a pass of making the national title in January, this was supposed to be the year. A veteran quarterback was back in the fold, along with a terrific tailback tandem and a host of others. The Nittany Lions had lured the defensive coordinator from rival Ohio State away after he had just helped the Buckeyes hoist that golden national title trophy. They even went into the portal and did what was possible to bring in some much-needed help at wide receiver.
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Whatever box there was to check, Penn State did it. It all lined up for a 2025 season to remember. Some, Sports Illustrated curse fully included, even picked them to win it all in Miami early next year.
Now, just five games in, Penn State fans sure won’t forget this season as a dream has become their worst conceivable nightmare on the field.
This is not just a case of underachieving, this is the case of a talented team simply playing bad football from the opening snap of the season until now. The Nittany Lions played around with their food during a lifeless nonconference run, got lucky to force it to double overtime against Oregon last week and then saved their worst for last in Pasadena.
UCLA was 134th in the nation in scoring coming into Saturday’s matinee at a barely full Rose Bowl but put up 42 points. The fans who bothered to show up in support of the home team looked up to see a plane with a message calling for the job of the athletic director. There was an interim head coach in charge and not one, but two, new coordinators calling plays.
Yet young Jerry Neuheisel, hastily promoted to be his alma mater’s new offensive guru on Tuesday, ran circles around Jim Knowles—the highest-paid coordinator in the country. The Bruins scored five touchdowns to nearly match their total coming in and rushed for 5.1 yards per carry. Seemingly every time they needed a third down, it was Nico Iamaleava who would happily scamper off to move the chains with nary an adjustment from Penn State’s well-compensated defense.
The former Tennessee signal-caller looked like the guy who scouts should have been paying attention to instead of the one who was talked about as a potential top-five pick in Drew Allar (19 of 26, 200 yards, two touchdowns).
It’s one thing for Franklin to come up short time after time in matchups against Top 10 teams. He even acknowledged it last week after losing to the Ducks that it’s simple facts and not any sort of narrative around his tenure at Penn State.
But losing to UCLA like that? It’s the clearest sign yet that there needs to be a new head coach in blue and white come 2026.
On Penn State’s side, the school cannot likely come close to simply cutting ties with Franklin’s buyout exceeding $50 million—which would be the second biggest in history after Texas A&M paid Jimbo Fisher $77 million to go away. But the administration could straight up tell Franklin that all the program’s revenue sharing and NIL money are likely to be rerouted into sports where the Nittany Lions can actually win something.
That’s good news for the volleyball team, not so much for a coach driven to compete.
Perhaps Franklin will dig in, promise more changes and refuse to leave. He shouldn’t, not with a $2 million exit built into his contract that could see him take any number of openings this coaching cycle.
Head off to Arkansas, Florida, Auburn or even Oklahoma State. Make it be known through your agent that you’ll happily build a program elsewhere that can win over 100 games and become a constant threat to make the playoff. Often the grass isn’t always greener on the other side, but he sure needs to find out now.
It simply can’t continue like this after Penn State became the first Top 10 team to lose to a previously winless side with at least four losses since 1985. Having won 34 consecutive games against unranked opponents, this slip should be the final straw.
If it wasn’t, that fourth-and-2 play call in the final red zone trip against UCLA or failing to rush the punter with just seconds left in the game certainly was. “Big Game James” can exit stage left after that.
This was supposed to be a national-title-or-bust season for Franklin and Penn State. After losing to UCLA for a second loss well before Halloween and even more difficult tests ahead, that is a pipe dream now. Even a warm Florida bowl game come December won’t take the sting of disappointment out of this year.
Penn State can’t really afford to fire Franklin. Franklin can’t really afford to stick around and attempt another rebuild that gets him this close to achieving what he set out to do upon first taking the job.
They don’t have to be stuck with each other though.
It’s time to have a mutual parting of ways between the Nittany Lions head coach and the program, which might not be the creative language to cover up a firing that badly needs to happen now.
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