James Franklin on Hot Seat as Serious Consequences Turn Penn State’s Playoff Fate Into Nightmare

Sometimes it feels like James Franklin is the luckiest man alive after that loss to Oregon, but then, when you look at the stakes, you start feeling bad for this HC. Now, how many times has Penn State narrowly missed a spot in the playoff? See, this season they are 11-2. For the last 3 consecutive years, they have consistently performed amazingly and still got off a 10-2 regular season run. The only losses coming from OSU and some other random team. Now Penn State fans aren’t as crazy as OSU fans. When the Lions lost to the Buckeyes yet again (for the 8th consecutive time), they didn’t go all out with “Fire James Franklin” chants.

But then again, it’s safe to say that people are losing their patience, and if Franklin chokes these playoff games, then it’s pretty much over. “If you lose, bam, you’re fired. I think you’re fired,” The Fan Upstate pointed out in their video. The Lions are hosting the Mustangs on Saturday for the first-round game. Now, SMU is a team that every has a lot of doubt about. Their entire strength of schedule (SOS) is ranked 75th and they couldn’t even win their conference title game against Clemson. It makes you think if Franklin ends up losing to a team that probably isn’t even deserving of a playoff spot as per some fans, should he even remain as the Penn State HC?

See, credit where credit is due. Mustangs knows how to might. If you switch back to the game against Clemson, SMU was down by 17 points going into the second half, but somehow they managed to climb past the Tigers’ defense and hit the 31-point scare.

It was LITERALLY because of Nolan Hauser‘s magical 56-yard field goal that Clemson managed to avoid an OT fight with SMU. The entire debate on which team is better is complicated. From a roster and SOS perspective, Penn State should come out with an easy win.

That game against the Ducks single-handedly shows how much the Lions have improved over the year. Before the kickoff even started, James Franklin made it clear that it would be a “4 quarter game”. And it was. Constant back and forth between both the team’s defense and offense, and the Lions came close to the 45-point target, ending the game with a 37-45 run. However, there is another angle to all of this. If Franklin does manage to power through SMU, there is Boise on the horizon.

Against Boise State

David Pollack made an interesting argument regarding Bronco’s success. “Because teams can change quickly, like, really quickly with the transfer portal,” Pollack mentioned. Now this perspective isn’t technically wrong. The Broncos have massive players from the portal, such as Cam Camper and Chris Marshall.

But is this all? Yeah, we know Ashton Jeanty is the ace for Boise State, and if the defensive line fails to stop his run game, then it is pretty much over, but did you know that Boise had one of the easiest schedules this year?

Ranked 78 in the entire country. This is lower than SMU, and it makes you wonder how they even managed to get that bye. Yeah, the conference title win was a big deal and got them an automatic bid, but why are we even talking about all of this?

The point is, if Franklin loses to Boise State, then the fans could end up losing their minds. SMU is an easy hurdle. It should be over quick and easy. Boise with Jeanty? Yeah, this is going to be a pain, but if the Lions win this one, then they’re going horse-hunting against whatever team that wins their quarterfinal showdowns.