Oregon Ducks Could Put James Franklin On Hot Seat With Win Over Penn State

The Oregon Ducks won't be doing any favors for James Franklin's job security with a potential win over the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Penn State head coach James Franklin argues a penalty call at the end of an NCAA football game against Nevada, Saturday, August 30, 2025, in State College, Pa. | Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

First, there was coach Mike Gundy - who is out at Oklahoma State after 20-plus years.

Could Penn State coach James Franklin be the next victim of the Oregon Ducks' dominance?

No. 6 Oregon will visit the No. 3 Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday in Happy Valley for a highly-anticipated "White Out" game, and it's not a secret that there's no shortage of pressure on Franklin to come out with a win. If he doesn't, there's a legitimate argument to be made that Franklin's seat could get hotter if the Nittany Lions eventually stumble into the offseason empty-handed once again.

James Franklin's Record Against Top-25 Teams

Sep 13, 2025; University Park, Pennsylvania, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin walks on the field prior to the game against the Villanova Wildcats at Beaver Stadium. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

MORE: What Penn State Wide Receiver Kyron Hudson Said About Oregon’s 'Special' Secondary

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Of course, Franklin's situation is obviously much different from Gundy's. The writing had been on the wall in Stillwater since last season when Oklahoma State went 0-9 in Big 12 play. It's not as if a loss to a Top-10 Oregon team means Franklin will be fired midweek like Gundy was on Tuesday.

As for Franklin and Penn State, the Nittany Lions have remained in the national championship conversation but not many people in the college football world have taken seriously as legit contenders.

This has nothing to do with Penn State's talent, but more to do with Franklin's ability to be an elite coach. Is he up there with Kirby Smart, Ryan Day, Dan Lanning or even Steve Sarkisian and Marcus Freeman? It's tough to say he is, and the record against ranked teams -- while factoring in Penn State's annual expectations -- is some evidence as to why.

While the head coach at Vanderbilt, Franklin went 1-8 against ranked teams. but that doesn't do much for us in this discussion. The Commodores were still SEC bottom-dwellers at that time and were still far away from their recent resurgence.

But at Penn State, Franklin's record againat teams ranked in the AP Top 25 at the time of the matchup isn't much better. In 43 such games, Franklin is 16-27, which includes losses last season to Oregon (Big Ten Championship) and Notre Dame (Orange Bowl).

Franklin is certainly a talented enough coach to get his teams in position to win a title, but he's proven time and again he can't get over that hump. Now in his 12th season at Penn State, Franklin has no national championship appearances and just one Big Ten Championship win (2016).

James Franklin Reflects on Defense From Last Season

Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning celebrates Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, during the Big Ten Championship game between the Oregon Ducks and the Penn State Nittany Lions at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The Ducks defeated the Nittany Lions, 45-37. | Grace Smith/Indianapolis Star / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Penn State fell to Oregon, 45-37, in the Big Ten Championship last season, giving the Ducks the conference title in their inaugural season in the league.

Franklin reflected on where the defense has come since last season while speaking with the media this week.

"I think last year, we didn't have enough tools in our tool belt," Franklin said. "And what I mean by that is we were a majority of the time a man coverage team, and sometimes they were able to get match-ups that were in their favor. And if we're not able to solve that issue with a sack or pressure, then we had some challenges. I think being able to play man is definitely one of our weapons, but also being able to have zones and zone pressures and a lot of those different things that we're now doing more of now is valuable."

The loss actually ended up helping the Nittany Lions make it further in the College Football Playoff than Oregon, as they got set up with matchups against SMU and Boise State while the Ducks had to run into a highly-motivated Ohio State team that they had beaten earlier in the season.

The Ducks will be looking for another major regular-season win when Oregon and Penn State kick off from Beaver Stadium at 4:30 p.m. PT.