On January 11th, 2014, James Franklin held his introductory press conference as the new head coach of Penn State Football. He spoke about wanting to build the program the right way and how he planned to be the head coach for a long time.

Objectively, Franklin has achieved those initial goals. His reputation as one of the best recruiters in the country and his six 10+ win seasons have allowed him to remain at the helm of Penn State football for the last 12 seasons.

Throughout that time, Penn State has been consistently ranked among the best in the country. The Nittany Lions have also competed in numerous bowl games and made a run to the college football semifinals in the 2024-25 season.

Despite all the success, something still feels off in Happy Valley. Franklin has a historically bad record against ranked opponents, and he has never managed to win over the hearts of many Penn State fans.

Since 2014, many Penn State fans and publications, including here at Onward State, have been critical of Franklin’s inability to win the big games. Franklin almost always led the Nittany Lions to wins against teams that they were favored against, but rarely pulled off an upset. Many college football teams would be happy with consistent winning seasons, but Penn State fans are tired of never getting over the big game hump.

Now, Franklin’s luck appears to be changing, and not in a good way. Penn State was favored to win the White Out game against Oregon, but came up short in double overtime. At the time, the loss felt like any other big game under Franklin, but now, it looks like the potential start of something worse.

Going into the game against UCLA, Penn State fans were expecting a bounce-back. The 0-4 Bruins were supposed to be a quick win to get the Nittany Lions back on their feet after the heartbreaking White Out loss. Clearly, it didn’t go like they hoped.

UCLA handed Franklin and the Nittany Lions one of the biggest upsets of his time as head coach. The 2025-26 season started with Penn State as No. 2 in the AP Poll. They are now unranked for the first time since 2022. Penn State was one of the favorites to win the National Championship; they now need to win out in a schedule that includes No. 1 Ohio State and No. 7 Indiana, just to make the playoffs.

With back-to-back upset losses, including one of the worst in school history, it might finally be time for the Nittany Lions to move on from James Franklin. If he can no longer be relied on to win all the games that he’s supposed to win, why would anyone expect him to break his curse and pull off an upset?

Franklin was great when he could consistently get the Nittany Lions to bowl games and the playoffs. There’s still a chance for a miracle run this year, but if he cannot pull it off, it might finally be time to move on.