Penn State is moving on.
On Sunday, Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde reported that Penn State coach James Franklin had been fired following the Nittany Lions’ loss to Northwestern on Saturday, which was his team's third straight defeat.
Expectations were high for Penn State heading into the season, with plenty of returning talent from last year’s team that made the College Football Playoff as the No. 6 team in the country. The Nittany Lions entered the year as the No. 2 team in the AP poll, and were widely viewed as national championship contenders.
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That vision for the team fell apart when they faced their first real competition. Hosting Oregon for a White Out, Penn State’s offense floundered, and while they were able to scramble to send the game to overtime, a costly mistake by Drew Allar sealed the loss to the Ducks.
Things only spiraled from there. A week later, Penn State lost on the road as three-touchdown favorites to a previously winless UCLA team, with the defense, normally a stronghold for the Nittany Lions, allowing the Bruins to amass 42 points and 446 total yards of offense.
Then on Saturday, Penn State once again lost as three-touchdown favorites, this time to Northwestern on homecoming weekend at State College. As Franklin walked off the field, it felt like it might be the end of an era.
Franklin took over as leader of the program in 2014, while the school was still reeling from the fallout of the Joe Paterno scandal. While he brought the team back to Big Ten contention, Franklin showed from the beginning an inability to win the biggest games when they mattered most—a problem that would stay with him through his entire tenure with the school.
Despite the Nittany Lions spending the vast majority of their time as a Top 25 program, Franklin went just 4–21 in head-to-head matchups against Top 10 teams, including a dismal 1–13 against fellow Big Ten programs Ohio State and Michigan when they were ranked in the Top 10.
Franklin’s consistency in winning the games that Penn State were expected to win kept his job safe for a long run, but after the disastrous start to 2025, the school is moving on.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Penn State Fires Coach James Franklin After Third Straight Loss.
