It’s the end of an era in Happy Valley. After 12 seasons, Penn State has officially fired head coach James Franklin, parting ways with one of college football’s longest-tenured, and most polarizing, leaders.
Franklin’s buyout will cost the university a staggering $49 million, the second-largest in college football history behind Jimbo Fisher’s Texas A&M exit. Associate head coach Terry Smith will step in as interim head coach for the rest of the season.
Once a program staple and Big Ten powerhouse, Penn State’s unraveling became impossible to ignore. The Nittany Lions lost back-to-back home games as heavy favorites, the first FBS team since 1978 to do so, capped by a disastrous 22–21 loss to Northwestern that saw fans chanting “Fire Franklin!” and QB Drew Allar suffer a season-ending injury.
Despite leading Penn State to the 2016 Big Ten title and consistently producing NFL talent like Saquon Barkley and Micah Parsons, Franklin’s record against elite competition, 4-21 vs. AP Top-10 teams, ultimately sealed his fate.
Athletic director Pat Kraft called the decision “the right moment for new leadership” as the program eyes its long-awaited national title push amid a $700 million Beaver Stadium renovation.
While Penn State searches for a new leader, two MLB franchises are closing in on the sport’s biggest stage.
The Los Angeles Dodgers and Seattle Mariners both hold commanding 2-0 leads in their respective league championship series.
In the NLCS, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was masterful, throwing a complete-game gem to give the Dodgers a 7-1 postseason record and a two-game cushion over the Brewers. In the ALCS, the Mariners are heading home to Seattle after taking both games in Toronto, now just two wins away from their first-ever World Series appearance.
The World Series begins October 24, and at this rate, both LCS matchups could wrap by the weekend.
College football chaos meets MLB dominance. October is delivering everything fans could ask for, and it’s only getting better.
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