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James Franklin's bizarre explanation of UCLA loss frustrates fans; ‘When will he be fired?’
James Franklin is in the hot seat. Penn State's latest loss against UCLA on Saturday has sparked fire calls against him
James Franklin is in the hot seat. Penn State's latest loss against UCLA on Saturday has sparked fire calls against him, and he knows that. The team entered the UCLA matchup hoping to bounce back from a disappointing 30-24 loss to Oregon. They were already in seventh place in the AP Top 25. But the story did not change. Against the Bruins, they lost 42-37.
After the game, Franklin was pretty frank. “Obviously, we did not handle last week's loss well,” he said. The coach further admitted that his players' did not recover from the Oregon loss, at least mentally. They were sloppy and lacked focus, the coach added.
“We made mistakes today that we normally don’t make. Had a ton of missed assignments. Turnovers at critical times, penalties at critical times.”
However, what irked Penn State fans was Franklin's admission about travel.
“We also lost some players in that game, during the week. Then, everything else. Travel. Everything else. Did not come out with the right energy to start the game. That’s my responsibility,” he said.
“Bye bye James Franklin. You never won any big games. Get out of our university,” one fan wrote on X, platform formerly known as Twitter.
“I’ve defended James Franklin so much. I can live with the big game losses because he is rarely favored in them. Losing to 0-4 dumpster fire UCLA is frankly unacceptable,” another one added.
“This should be James Franklin’s last game at Penn State. It’s run its course,” a third one tweeted.
In 2021, Penn State extended him with a 10-year, $85 million deal that runs through 2031. That contract carries one of the largest buyouts in college football, estimated at $56 million heading into this season, per 247Sports.
