On Tuesday, UCLA and offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri mutually agreed to part ways. This came three weeks after the school fired head coach Deshaun Foster and just four days before seventh-ranked Penn State visited the Rose Bowl.
UCLA entered the Big Ten matchup winless at 0-4, while the Nittany Lions were looking to bounce back from a double-overtime loss to Oregon at home last weekend. Interim Bruins coach Tim Skipper promoted tight ends coach Jerry Neuheisel to offensive coordinator. He had just a few days to implement a game plan.
All Neuheisel, quarterback Nico Iamaleava, and the UCLA offense did was execute the plan to perfection against the No. 7 team in the country. They led the Bruins to a 42-37 upset of Penn State. This is a bad loss for James Franklin and the Nittany Lions, but it looks even worse after they lost to a team that had an interim offensive coordinator who had just four days to come up with a game plan.
James Franklin’s Seat Is Burning at Penn State
It’s one thing to lose to Oregon, but UCLA? To compound matters, he lost to a team that switched offensive coordinators on Tuesday. They practiced for two days on a new game plan.
“First thing I want to say is I love UCLA more than anything, and the kind of kids you see that played on that field today is exactly why you love a place like this,’’ said Neuheisel. “We had two days to practice a new game plan, and all they did was believe, and we came out and played as hard as we could for 60 full minutes. Had to take a safety at the end because we messed it up at the end. How can you not love college football when you have days like this? It’s special. Special. Special.”
There have been some brutal losses during Franklin’s tenure at Penn State, but this one takes his lowest of lows to a new low. This loss all but ends their College Football Playoff hopes as they still have to travel to Columbus in November to play Ohio State.
James Franklin’s Buyout Makes It Tough to Fire Him
If Penn State AD Pat Kraft wants to make a change and free Franklin, it’s going to be costly. In 2021, Franklin signed a 10-year extension with $75 million. Going into this season, his buyout would be $56 million, and he is the 13th-highest-paid coach in the country.
Penn State has no choice but to look ahead to next week’s home game against Northwestern with Franklin. How does Penn State handle this loss, according to Franklin?
“We’ve got to tune out all the outside noise,’’ said Franklin. “I thought our guys worked hard at doing that last week, but obviously not well enough. So, we’ve got to stick together — the coaches, the players in the locker room, offense, defense, special teams. The reality is we did not play well enough in all three phases to win the game.’’
There is going to be a ton of outside noise. Not playing well enough in all three phases has been something that has happened too many times under Franklin. It usually happens in games against ranked opponents in the Top 10, not a winless team that is trying to just get through the season before big changes and a new coach take over. If this isn’t rock-bottom for Penn State under Franklin, what is?
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