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Penn State and James Franklin Have Reached the End of the Road

A surreal three games of Penn State football has led the program to an inflection point regarding its head coach.
Mark Wogenrich|
Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin stands on the field following the game against the Northwestern Wildcats at Beaver Stadium.
Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin stands on the field following the game against the Northwestern Wildcats at Beaver Stadium. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

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STATE COLLEGE | James Franklin hugged the final Penn State players to leave the field at Beaver Stadium to a musical playlist of dread. The Rolling Stones' "Beast of Burden" layered above a bitter round of boos after the Nittany Lions' 22-21 loss to Northwestern. Later, Imagine Dragons' "It's Time" led Franklin into the locker room, the lyrics following the head coach's every step through the tunnel and into tomorrow.

This road never looked so lonely

This house doesn't burn down slowly

To ashes, to ashes

"I don’t know how we ended up in this position, man," Penn State linebacker Dani Dennis-Sutton said after the game.

Practically, Penn State's season ended Saturday in a 22-21 loss to Northwestern that underscored all the team's faults this season and introduced some new ones. The Nittany Lions are 0-3 in the Big Ten for the first time since 2004 (discounting the 2020 COVID season), lost starting quarterback Drew Allar to a season-ending injury and have no meaningful path to the College Football Playoff.

In a year that Franklin himself said Penn State planned to play at least 16 games, the Nittany Lions might cap it at 12. It's the most stunning circuit-breaking stretch of Franklin's career and the biggest wreckage of Penn State talent since the second-ranked Nittany Lions lost three straight to finish the 1999 season.

On the field after the game, Franklin surveyed Beaver Stadium as though he were taking snapshots to store for the future. Penn State officials were quiet about Franklin's future with the program, which includes six more contract years after this one, but that wasn't surprising. What was? How Franklin passively defended his ground.

Franklin was asked directly after the game whether he still wants to be Penn State's head coach. His complete answer:

"Yeah, for me, it's always been about our players, and those guys are hurting right now," Franklin said. "And the fans are frustrated, and I totally get it. We have great fans here. We get unbelievable
support. I understand their frustration, trust me. We’re as frustrated as anybody, the guys in the
locker room. But to me, ultimately, it's about the guys. It's about the guys in the locker room, and
they're hurting in there, and I’d do anything I could to take that hurt away from them.

"But like I told them, we've got to stick together. We've got to tune out all the noise, and we've got to get to work. That's the only answer, is get to work. We've had some adversity in the past, not like this, and we're going to get to work. I love those kids. I am committed to those players in that locker
room, and I've been that way for 12 years.

"I've been that way for 15 years of my head-coaching career, and I've been that way for 30 years. That won't change. It's always been about the players for me. That won't ever change. That's what it's all about for me. So, my commitment is to the guys in that locker room and all the guys that have been in that locker room in the past. So that's where my commitment is."

A head-spinning two weeks in Penn State history

On Sept. 27, Franklin appeared on ESPN's College GameDay to say he expected Beaver Stadium to host its most electric atmosphere ever for the White Out vs. Oregon. Two weeks and three losses later, Franklin might be counting his days with the program.

"It’s tough when you hear people want to fire your coach," Dani Dennis-Sutton said.

Franklin arrived in Las Vegas in July for Big Ten Media Days with the most swagger he has had in 12 preseasons. He raved about the talent, pointed to an experienced coaching staff with multiple rings (college and NFL titles) and suggested that as many as a dozen Nittany Lions could be drafted next year.

But now, Penn State has an offense that has scored two first-half touchdowns in Big Ten play. It has a defense that gave up an 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter after that offense reclaimed the lead. And it has a head coach who is vowing to "get it fixed" while no one wants him to have that opportunity.

The atmosphere Saturday at Beaver Stadium started sourly when Franklin was booed during pre-game introductions and grew only more toxic from there. At the end, the language was loud and foul. Franklin walked through the tunnel, toward the locker room and into the waiting arms of his daughter.

After being asked whether he still wants to be at Penn State, Franklin was asked whether it's in his best interests even to remain the team's head coach.

"I take full responsibility for what happened tonight," Franklin said, avoiding a direct answer. "I take full responsibility for what's happened this season, and I'm committed to the guys in that locker room."

What's next for James Franklin?

Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin walks off the field following the game against the Northwestern Wildcats.
Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin walks off the field following the game against the Northwestern Wildcats at Beaver Stadium. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

We wrote about this last week, after the Nittany Lions' loss to UCLA. Penn State Athletic Director Pat Kraft gave Franklin a healthy line of credit this season, spending millions on player retention, coaching hires and program resources. He expects results, as Nebraska coach Matt Rhule (who worked for Kraft at Temple) said this summer.

"What Pat does is, he comes in, he raises the level of expectation, he removes the excuses," Rhule said. "You're here to play for championships. And if you want to do that, there has to be a certain investment from the university. I know he makes that investment, and then he expects you to perform."

Franklin and Penn State have not this season. And Kraft, who has backed Franklin strongly for three years, is on the clock. Though the finances of a $48 million buyout in 2025 might suggest otherwise, Kraft won't be shy about making a move if he believes it's right. It's a matter of whether Kraft gives Franklin some grace to continue without his starting quarterback or if he believes that's the right time to make a move.

Franklin won 70.3 percent of his games at Penn State entering Saturday. He furthered the heavy lift Bill O'Brien conducted in 2012-13 and won a Big Ten title in just his third season. Penn State has won at least 10 games the past three seasons and a school-record 13 last year.

But this three-game stretch has produced some of the most grim, un-fun football of Franklin's tenure. The Nittany Lions totaled 274 yards of offense vs. the Wildcats, their lowest since last year's Ohio State game. The defense allowed four scoring drives of at least 58 yards, including the back-breaker in the fourth quarter.

The Nittany Lions committed six penalties for a season-high 71 yards in the first half alone. They fumbled a punt, which led only to a Northwestern field goal. Allar threw an end-zone interception after a blocked punt in the first quarter.

"The message was really that we were facing a football team with its back against the wall,
maybe even questioning who they are," Northwestern coach David Braun said. "We knew they’d come out hungry at home, ready to fight. Our guys responded to that challenge. We knew Penn State had talent, but we also believed they could be attacked."

They were, by Northwestern and the fans. "I will get it fixed," Franklin said after the game. Whom he was trying to convince was unclear. Penn State's 2025 season no longer is fixable, and Franklin appears as though he's done trying.

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Mark Wogenrich
MARK WOGENRICH

Mark Wogenrich is the editor and publisher of Penn State on SI, the site for Nittany Lions sports on the Sports Illustrated network. He has covered Penn State sports for more than two decades across three coaching staffs, three Rose Bowls and one College Football Playoff appearance.