By. Micheal Germanese
“Big Game James” is the nickname James Franklin has earned during his 11 seasons at Penn State. Unfortunately, for Penn State, the nickname is the definition of an oxymoron, describing the complete opposite. Franklin has constantly lost big games year after year, which has earned him the name. Making the 2025 expectation simple, if Franklin continues to lose big games, should he be given a 13th season to try and win them?
The problem at Penn State under Franklin is not winning a game, it’s winning the games that matter. In college football, success is measured by what you do in only a handful of games. For Franklin beating Purdue or Boise State doesn’t matter it is expected. What matters is what you do against teams like Ohio State and Notre Dame that count. And when it comes to Franklin in those types of games, he has been terrible.
Some things are hard to do, and for Franklin, that thing is beating teams comparable to or better than his. And in 2025, that can’t be the case anymore. The expectation for this upcoming season is to make the national championship game or there won’t be a 13th season.
One Expectation
Penn State should have one expectation heading into 2025: play for a national championship. Anything short of making that game should ultimately cost Franklin his job. At some point, Franklin has to start winning big games while putting trophies in the trophy case. Victories only against teams he’s expected to beat can no longer be the standard.
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Penn State should have the players and support staff in place for Franklin to finally win big games in 2025. If you’re Franklin, you can’t get Jim Knowles from Ohio State only to lose to them again. A move like this puts a target on your back and raises the expectations for 2025.
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If Not this Team
Penn State in 2025 brings back Drew Allar for his third year and the Nittany Lions starting quarterback. Allar deciding to come back and forgo the NFL draft is big, with Ohio State, Michigan, and Oregon all starting QBs with little to no college experience. Allar threw for 3,327 yards and 24 touchdowns a year ago. But with the additions of transfer wide receivers Trebor Pena, Kyron Hudson, and Devonte Ross, Allar has a lot more talent to throw to in 2025.
Along with Allar, running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen are also returning. Penn State’s two-head monsters in the backfield will play a big role again in 2025. The two combined for 2207 yards and 10 touchdowns and could supersede that this season. Penn State has a much more talented wide receiver room that will soften up the defensive lines and linebackers give both running backs more room to work this season.
In total, Penn State brings back 12 starters from the 2024 season. Michigan in 2023 and Ohio State in 2024 had several starters return, along with key acquisitions in the portal that made it possible to make national championship runs. Penn State in 2025 looks to be built in the same way.
If Franklin can’t win it with this team, then what will it take for him to get it done?
Fouls Gold in 2024
On paper, the 2024 season looked like a success: played in the Big Ten Championship, and made the College Football Playoff semifinal. The reality, Franklin lost to every equivalent team they played. Their best two wins came in the playoff as eight-point and 12.5-point favorites.
Penn State played three teams equivalent to or better than them and lost to all of them. They lost at home to Ohio State, their only real regular-season test. In the Big Ten championship game, they lost to Oregon and would lose to Notre Dame in the CFP Semifinal after a late Drew Allar interception.
Penn State won the playoff lottery in 2024 with one of the easiest roads to the semifinal. They beat SMU as an eight-point favorite and Boise State as a 12.5-point one. Penn State losing the Big Ten Championship turned into an advantage, considering Oregon’s reward for winning the conference was playing Ohio State, while Penn State’s reward was playing Boise State.
You Are Who You Are
1-15, 4-20, 1-10: Frankin’s record against the top five, top ten, and Ohio State. At some point, you are what the record says, and Franklin’s record says he’s not a big-game coach. A 1-15 against top-five ranked teams is unacceptable, and only 4-20 against the top ten should tell Penn State officials everything they need to know.
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Franklin against Ohio State is just as bad, holding a 1-10 record. Franklin, at some point needs to show his worth and live up to the 8.5 million a year expectation and beat Ohio State. Sherrone Moore has as many wins in one year as Franklin does in 11, and Michigan was a 20-plus point underdog a year ago yet Franklin still can’t find a way to beat Ohio State.
Regardless of a 12, 16, or 18-team playoff Franklin’s record should give anyone pause about his ability to win or even make the national championship game. Especially now with conference champions no longer earning the top-four seeds.
Can Franklin win the big games in 2025 and silence his critic like Ryan Day did last season? Day went from public enemy number one at the end of November to an Ohio State coaching legend by mid-January and all it took was a national championship. Day had to win a national championship to cool his critics; Franklin only needs to make it there. Penn State has the fourth-best odds to win the national championship according to FanDuel at +800, the expectation to just get there is well in reach. If he can’t Penn State has to decide if they want to accept mediocrity or find a coach who can finally get them there.
