‘Penn State can do better’: James Franklin is on the hot seat, and what else they’re saying after latest loss

Just two weeks ago, Penn State looked like a potential national championship contender, gearing up for an epic White Out matchup against Oregon.

How the mighty have fallen.

Fallen so far, in fact, that they dropped from the No. 7 team in the nation all the way out of the AP Top 25 after James Franklin and Penn State’s shocking 42-37 loss to winless UCLA Saturday. Now, a lot of people have a lot of opinions about what’s to come for the Nittany Lions and their head coach.

Here’s what the national media is saying after the team’s second straight loss …

Penn State started the year ranked No. 2 in the country, seen as a national championship contender thanks to their numerous returning starters and the addition of defensive coordinator Jim Knowles.

» READ MORE: Penn State falls out of AP Top 25 after loss at UCLA

That was before they lost to a UCLA team that has been one of the worst teams in college football to start the year, becoming the first top 10 team in 40 years to lose to an 0-4 team.

“The good news for James Franklin is it doesn’t effect his record against top 10 teams, so he caught a break on that front,” ESPN college football radio host Paul Finebaum said. “The bad news is, it’s not statistically the worst loss of all time … but it feels like the worst loss I’ve ever seen.”

Now, at 3-2, the Nittany Lions are unranked, and need to win out, including on the road against No. 1 Ohio State, who has tormented Franklin for years, to make the College Football Playoff.

“To have to [beat Ohio State] to stay alive, the bigger issue for James Franklin is keeping his job,” Finebaum said. “I know what his buyout is, I know what his record is, but at some point you have to determine, can we do better? I’m telling you right now, Penn State can do better than James Franklin.”

Franklin brought Penn State back to a consistent level of success. The Nittany Lions have made a bowl game in all but one of Franklin’s seasons as head coach, but aside from 2016, they don’t have any signature big wins either.

“I don’t know what else there is to say about the Penn State loss,” Scott Van Pelt said. “Penn State fans have wanted to fire James Franklin as long as he’s been there.”

» READ MORE: No. 7 Penn State’s woes continue in a road loss to previously winless UCLA

Van Pelt pointed out that Franklin has admitted Penn State hasn’t breached that elite tier yet, and after advancing to the semifinal of the College Football Playoff last season, they finally looked poised to take that next step. Now, they’re back at square one.

“You’re Penn State, and you want to be elite,” Van Pelt said. “It’s a football school, it matters a lot to a lot of people, and he’s gotten you there, he’s gotten you close. If you’ve been angry with what he was before, and he hadn’t lost a game like this … a night like this is just going to have everyone screaming at the top of their lungs.”

After the emotional ride of the overtime loss to Oregon, the game against UCLA was a “classic trap game,” Fox Sports analyst and former Colorado quarterback Joel Klatt said.

Klatt had harsh words for offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, especially on the decision to call an RPO on the fourth-and-2 that ultimately decided the game. The Penn State offense is not catering to Drew Allar’s strengths, Klatt said, but Allar still helped extend plays and keep Penn State alive.

“What if I said the best player in a Penn State uniform on Saturday against UCLA was Drew Allar,” Klatt said. “Would you agree with that? Because if you just read the articles, or the chat boards, you’d think the problem is Drew Allar. I don’t think that’s accurate at all … He was the only reason Penn State had a chance to win that football game in the first place.”

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