Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin is dealing with one of the most difficult times of his 11-year career in Happy Valley. After back-to-back losses, the Nittany Lions have tumbled out of the national rankings, and Franklin now faces potential hostility from his own home crowd this Saturday.
The troubles started two weeks ago when No. 3 Penn State lost 30-24 in double overtime to the No. 6 Oregon Ducks during their famous White Out game at Beaver Stadium. The game was enough to show us Franklin's ongoing struggle in big games, as his record against ranked opponents dropped to 15-28 during his Penn State tenure.
“We try to control the things that we can control,” Franklin said about preparing for potential boos from fans. “We've had this in the past. I obviously don't want it, nobody wants it. We want the players to have a great experience and the coaches to have a great experience. I want the fans to feel good and be excited.”
But the situation became much worse last week. Penn State, still ranked No. 7, traveled to face winless UCLA as heavy favorites but suffered a 42-37 defeat to the 0-4 Bruins. This marked the first time since 1985 that a winless team beat a top-10 ranked team, making it one of the most embarrassing losses in college football history.
James Franklin takes responsibility
Franklin admitted his team wasn't mentally prepared after the Oregon loss. “Obviously, we did not handle last week's loss well,” he said. “We also lost some players in that game during the week and then everything else, travel, everything else. [We] did not come out with the right energy to start the game.”
The losses have intensified criticism of Franklin's coaching. ESPN's Paul Finebaum suggested Franklin's time at Penn State may be ending, though the coach's $50 million buyout makes firing him unlikely.
Penn State will try to end its two-game losing streak when it hosts Northwestern on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1. The homecoming game gives Franklin a chance to win back frustrated fans and get the season back on track.
