Ten days after James Franklin’s firing, the reverberations are still felt in Happy Valley, Penn State's football team seat. On ESPN’s College GameDay, Franklin said his “goal hasn’t changed,” insisting he plans to chase a national title elsewhere after a 3-3 start and a swift dismissal that followed losses to Oregon, UCLA, and Northwestern.
Penn State football team turned to longtime assistant Terry Smith as interim while a broader coaching search churns in the background; the task at hand, though, is stabilizing a locker room ahead of its biggest test yet. That context frames a week built around belief and response rather than résumés and résumés alone.
Terry Smith on Penn State vs No. 1 Ohio State: “No one is giving us a chance, and I’m going to re-emphasize that to our team. I don’t think we’ve ever been a 20-point underdog since I’ve been here, but it’s motivation. No one believes in us. We’re going to come out and fight.” The message came via Tyler Donohue of 247Sports on X, formerly Twitter, a direct appeal to urgency as the Lions walk into a hostile stage.
The pitch is simple: lean into edge and execution. After a turbulent October and an interim handover, Smith is trying to convert doubt into fuel, making the week as much about clarity as tactics, penalties, situational football, and red-zone decisions have all swung close games the wrong way.
The underdog framing also resets expectations without lowering standards, a balance Penn State needs to strike with a top-ranked opponent on deck.
The fan pulse hasn’t been subtle since the transition. In the first post-Franklin game, a 25-24 loss to Iowa, social feeds captured a familiar frustration: flashes smothered by late miscues, special teams swings, and a fourth quarter that slipped away. It read like the season in miniature and put even more weight on Smith’s first marquee week to re-center details and confidence.
The Penn State football team doesn’t control the spread or the outside noise. It does control effort and precision. Smith’s public refrain, that belief and fight travel, sets a clear baseline for Saturday in Columbus.
