Penn State football dropped yet another game to Ohio State on Saturday, falling 20-13 at home in Beaver Stadium.

Two red-zone drives resulted in zero points for the Nittany Lions, including a late drive where Penn State couldn’t get the ball into the end zone from the one-yard line. The defensive side of the ball started out hot but allowed 17 unanswered points that the Nittany Lions couldn’t overcome.

After James Franklin’s eighth straight loss to the Buckeyes, the internet erupted into a frenzy with all kinds of hot takes.

James Franklin Is Here To Stay

CJ Doebler: James Franklin isn’t going anywhere. While there have been fewer calls for the 11th-year head coach’s job this year than after the loss to Ohio State last year, there’s still a group of fans who want the program to go in a different direction.

Penn State football has been close to achieving its goals but hasn’t quite gotten over the finish line. The Nittany Lions have been stuck in a limbo of routinely beating the teams they’re supposed to, but failing to get past the real competition. 

Franklin’s contract buyout, the new era of college football, and the fact that it could be much, much worse means Pat Kraft won’t be making a change any time soon.

Mitch Corcoran: No matter if you like, love, or hate Franklin, he will be here for the long run. I get how frustrating it is to lose to Ohio State almost every single year. If Marcus Allen doesn’t block that kick eight years ago, Franklin would probably be 0-11 against the Buckeyes.

However, Franklin is still 95-40 as Penn State’s head coach. He has brought in a top-20 recruitment class in each of the last three cycles, and, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, the recruiting class of 2025 will be the same. Odds are, the Nittany Lions will make the College Football Playoff this season, too.

I get people’s frustration with Franklin, but I’m not sure if there’s a better option out there.

Nolan Wick: Franklin isn’t going anywhere. His buyout is expensive, and he has clearly demonstrated a commitment to sticking with the Penn State program despite a tumultuous time for college football. The latter is hard to find these days.

Franklin has come close to reaching the program’s goals, but it’s going to take significantly more time, money, and even luck, for Penn State to truly compete with Ohio State and other elite programs.

Although Franklin has deserved criticism in the past, the latest loss isn’t on him. Trying to run the ball was the logical call, and Drew Allar said postgame he tried to find Tyler Warren in the end zone on 4th-and-1. There’s unfortunately only so much you can do against an elite Ohio State team, but yes, it is a failure on Andy Kotelnicki’s end to squander a layup touchdown to tie the game, and on Tom Allen’s end to allow the Buckeyes to bully the defense on the ground on the ensuing drive. Why blame the coordinators? Franklin previously said he tends to let them call the shots.

There Is Still No Wide Receiver One

CJ: Up until last Saturday, I would’ve said that while there wasn’t a clear top target in the receiver room, it wasn’t an issue with the way Tyler Warren and the offense had been performing. It became an issue against the Buckeyes.

With Warren all but taken out of the game by the Ohio State defense, it fell to the receivers to pick up the slack in the passing game. Nick Singleton ended the game with the most receiving yards at 54 and Warren finished with 47 yards on four receptions. Trey Wallace had four targets and brought in two for 45 yards. The only other receiver to catch a pass was Julian Fleming, who hauled in his only target of the game for four yards. 

Mitch: I have watched all eight games this season, and I am convinced there is not a wide receiver one on this team and one won’t emerge. Marques Hagans’ group had three catches for 49 yards the entire game against Ohio State. Nick Singleton was the team’s leading receiver.

I thought this group would perform better this season but so far in Big Ten play, I have been wrong. It’s one thing to have a receiver go for over 100 yards against West Virginia, Bowling Green, Kent State, and UCLA, and it’s another to do it against USC, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Ohio State. Penn State has failed to even come close to the latter.

Nolan: While all starting wide receivers have shown flashes of being really good, none have taken that next step. Trey Wallace is the most consistent of the bunch, but his work was cut out for him after allowing Davison Igbinosun to pry the ball away in the end zone. I’d suggest hitting the transfer portal, but Julian Fleming hasn’t been that productive, and previous splashes with Dante Cephas and Mitchell Tinsley weren’t game-changing, either. There need to be serious resources put into rebuilding what once was a great room, but the gap between Penn State and schools such as Ohio State, LSU, and Texas, for instance, is widening every year.

The Secondary Was Exposed…Again

CJ: The entire defense was exposed. Last year, playing against Marvin Harrison Jr. was a test for the secondary, and the Ohio State receivers did it again in 2024. Ohio State had eight players catch passes on Saturday, with only two of them having fewer than 15 receiving yards.

Ohio State excelled as it was, but had receivers wide open on multiple occasions. If Will Howard was a bit more accurate, this one could’ve been even worse.

Mitch: I disagree. Jeremiah Smith was Ohio State’s leading receiver coming into the game and it was the first time all season he was held to less than 70 yards and didn’t have a touchdown.

The biggest problem with Penn State’s defense was stopping the run. The Buckeyes rushed for 179 yards — the second-most rushing yards allowed by Penn State all season.

The secondary was bailed out when Will Howard missed some deep shots, but the secondary also held him to just 187 yards and they even got a pick-six. Look at it this way: The secondary outscored Penn State’s offense. So, did it really play that badly?

Nolan: The last three games have been brutal for Penn State’s secondary. The Nittany Lions allowed 220 receiving yards at USC, 217 at Wisconsin, and 182 against Ohio State. Will Howard missed some opportunities, so the potential was there for this to have been even worse.

Nick Singleton Has Dropped Off

CJ: Ever since he missed the game against UCLA, Nick Singleton hasn’t been the same on the ground. Through the first four games of the season, Singleton hadn’t put up less than 81 yards rushing in one game. Since missing UCLA, he hasn’t had a game with more than 50 yards.

Singleton, though, has been a commodity in the passing game during the same stretch. The junior hauled in touchdown passes against USC and Wisconsin and caught six passes for 54 yards against the Buckeyes. Singleton has been hot on the ground and in the air at points this season, it just needs to come together.

Mitch: At least he’s making up for in the receiving game. Singleton was the Nittany Lions’ leading receiver against Ohio State, and Tyler Warren was the leading rusher, believe it or not.

Singleton has just 90 yards on the ground over the last three games, but he hasn’t had more than 12 carries in a game during that stretch. I would like to see him become the featured back and get more carries for the rest of the season.

Nolan: Singleton has evolved as more of a pass-catching back than a traditional tailback. Franklin said yesterday he wants to re-establish a traditional ground game with Singleton and Kaytron Allen, so I would expect to see the former revert to what he did earlier in the season.

The Nittany Lions’ Season Is Still Ahead Of Them

CJ: As much as I dislike using the “it doesn’t matter as much,” coping mechanism, it’s true. I haven’t felt like the 12-team playoff was diminishing the regular season but after only dropping to No. 6 in the AP Poll, which is still good enough for a home College Football Playoff game, the loss was really only a minor setback.

The only consequences from Saturday’s loss are a now-improbable road to the Big Ten Championship and that the Nittany Lions have to win out. An annual loss to a geographic rival shouldn’t keep the Nittany Lions from meaningful competition on the national stage, and the 12-team playoffs look like they’re going to make that possible.

Mitch: Thank goodness for the expanded playoffs format. An 11-1 Penn State team likely gets a home playoff game in the new 12-team playoffs, so yes, the Nittany Lions’ season is still ahead of them.

The two toughest games remaining on the schedule are the White Out against Washington on Saturday and at Minnesota before Thanksgiving. As long as Penn State doesn’t drop another game, everything is fine.

Nolan: So far, the loss hasn’t affected Penn State significantly enough to drop it from playoff contention. If one loss spirals into two, then the Nittany Lions are in big trouble. I find that unlikely, so yes, postseason football and a potential rematch with the Buckeyes is still in the cards.