James Franklin Gets Defensive Over His Penn State Resume … For Second Straight Week
Two days after Penn State Football suffered perhaps its most embarrassing loss of the James Franklin era, Franklin met with the media for his weekly press conference Monday afternoon. The Nittany Lions now sit 3-2 on the season and all but out of the College Football Playoff hunt unless Penn State wins out for the remainder of the season.
Here are the top three takeaways from James Franklin’s weekly press conference.
James Franklin Remains Defensive of His Resume/ Tenure
Last week, James Franklin sent Penn State fans into a fury during his weekly press conference after the Nittany Lions’ double overtime loss against Oregon after answering a question about coming up short in big games by defending his resume at Penn State saying “I’m not going to allow one loss define our season. I’m not going to allow a few losses define my career.”
This week, after a second consecutive loss for the Nittany Lions (and perhaps Franklin’s worst loss of his tenure at Penn State), Franklin doubled down on his defense of his resume.
“I’m not going to allow two games that are extremely disappointing,” Franklin told reporters Monday. “To overshadow the growth we had in this program over the past 12 years.”
On the one hand, Franklin is right.
Penn State has made tremendous growth from the sanctions era team that Franklin took over in 2014 to now. But this message coming directly from Franklin himself to the media in the midst of one of the most disappointing seasons in Penn State history based on preseason expectations is not the time or place to do it.
Again mirroring his post-Oregon press conference, Franklin again reiterated that Penn State needed to “tune out the negativity” in order to grow and get back on track this season.
2025 Penn State is Not Living Up to Franklin’s Expectations
After the second loss of the season, Franklin was asked quite a few questions about what went wrong for this Nittany Lions team and why the team is not living up to the preseason expectations set by both the team and the national media.
Franklin reiterated his comments throughout the season that the offense has been inconsistent this season and that inconsistency has hurt the Nittany Lions throughout the season. In answering a question on Franklin’s assessment of offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, Franklin noted that “up to this point we have not been as productive as we expected to be” on offense this season, but that responsibility ultimately falls on Franklin.
Franklin also noted that the defense has not lived up to expectations with the defense not playing as confident or as fast in Knowles system so far this season.
Franklin also noted that inconsistency along the offensive line has hurt the Nittany Lions.
Franklin stated that the offensive line has not played as fast and aggressive as the coaching staff had anticipated on a play-by-play basis. Ultimately, Franklin noted that he is “surprised” where Penn State stands in all three phases of the game this far into the season.
Buy The Newest Penn State Gear From Fanatics | Shop Penn State Merchandise on Amazon
Franklin is looking for the team to “stick together” through the negativity
Despite the second loss of the season and Penn State’s preseason hopes hanging on a razor’s edge, James Franklin is looking for the locker room to “stick together” through the negativity to get back on a winning streak.
After the UCLA game, Franklin noted that Penn State did not do a good job blocking out all of the negativity from the previous week heading into last Saturday’s matchup.
This week, Franklin notes that the Nittany Lions will once again need to block out that negativity, “control the controllables,” and get back to executing the fundamentals and techniques within Penn State’s schemes.
“I believe in Penn State. I believe in our players. I believe in the men and women in the Lasch Building. And I believe in myself,” Franklin continued.
Franklin’s press conference Monday was the shortest of the season, by about 15 minutes, down from a usual 45 minutes to 30 minutes. In the end of the press conference, StateCollege.com’s Mike Poorman even had to ask Franklin for the Penn State scouting report on Northwestern (which James Franklin typically provides at the beginning of every press conference).
All-in-all, Franklin’s press conference was a repeat of last week’s messaging, wrapped up in the distractions from a second straight loss.
James Franklin on The Hot Seat: 3 Candidates Penn State Should Consider, One They Should Run From
A note to our readers If you make a purchase through one of our affiliate links, we may receive a commission
- Penn State Football Swing-o-meter: What Taking a Big Swing Actually Means for Coaching Search - October 16, 2025
- BREAKING: Indiana Blocks Curt Cignetti from Penn State Coaching Search with Massive New Contract - October 16, 2025
- Could Terry Smith’s Comments Signal Increased Role for 2 Penn State Playmakers? - October 15, 2025
