This is serious

Bob Flounders, with the retirement of Penn State-ite  pencil extraordinaire David Jones, is now the senior observer at Pennlive.

Penn State has no choice but to move on from James Franklin after Northwestern debacle | Flounders

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Lose to UCLA and Northwestern and Penn State has little choice but lose its 12th-year head coach.

Based on current trajectory, the Lions could be headed to a 3-9 finish, given their remaining schedule that includes dates with Iowa, Ohio State, Indiana and Nebraska.

In a season that began with such promise, that outcome cannot be acceptable.

The question is how soon the Lions’ program opts to cut ties with Franklin. The decision should not take long.

Franklin is 4-21 against teams ranked in the AP top 10. His 34-8 record from 2022 through 2024 provided him with some deodorant to cover the stench of those terrible numbers.

But after telling a national audience at Big Ten Media Days in Las Vegas this summer that this Penn State team led by quarterback Drew Allar, who was lost for the year with an apparently leg injury in Saturday’s fourth quarter, and some other veteran playmakers was his ‘most complete’, in terms of players and coaches, PSU is 3-3 with wins over Nevada, Florida International and Villanova and losses to Oregon, UCLA and Northwestern.

Franklin has to go.

The buyout is substantial, but the head coach has lost the Penn State room.

His players were pushed around by teams with inferior talent the last two Saturdays, and highly-paid coordinators Andy Kotelnicki and Jim Knowles have not made any noteworthy adjustments. Penn State may have to wait until 2026 for its next victory.Asked after the Northwestern loss if he still wants to be the head coach at PSU and if he is confident the Lions can bounce back...

[Franklin didn't answer the first question, I listened to it. The pencil made the mistake of asking two questions, the first being infinitely the more important, and gave Franklin the out to avoid it and answer the second, far less important, and provide an anodyne answer to it.]

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The chance to ‘stick together’ has reached an untenable place.

For Penn State, following the latest embarrassment, the only answer is to move on from its longtime head coach and appoint James Franklin’s interim replacement.