Paul Finebaum shares 'low-hanging fruit on James Franklin that Jim Harbaugh, Ryan Day had

Paul Finebaum has continued his criticism of Penn State coach James Franklin despite the Nittany Lions getting to the brink of a national title.

Although the Nittany Lions appear to be one of the Big Ten’s trendiest picks to win a national title, not everyone is on board with Penn State’s high hopes. Finebaum is still one of them.

“I believe that they have a chance," Finebaum said recently. "Now, it's low-hanging fruit to attack James Franklin, but he's never had the groceries like he does this year. By the way, he made it to within a second of the championship game last year. So, it's not like he was slumming it. He's a hard coach to believe in. But I also said the same thing about Ryan Day and Jim Harbaugh." 

Even though Finebaum is continuing the same narrative as he did with Day and Harbaugh, as he is with Franklin, it doesn’t mean making the College Football Playoff will get any easier. This is according to Franklin, who went on a tirade regarding the format and what he would do about it if he called the shots.

“I also think maybe there's a way to kind of do both, and I guess you could make the argument they are doing both right now, because I think the committee uses some formulas to come up with it, which I think makes a ton of sense," Franklin told reporters recently about the BCS-CFP debate. "I think at the end of the day, there's not going to be a perfect system."

The Nittany Lions lost the Big Ten title game to Oregon but found themselves in a great position once the postseason began. Penn State took down SMU and Boise State during its run before losing to Notre Dame.

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Franklin may be vocal now, but what is clear is that winning football games and maintaining a standard of excellence is something Penn State has reached but needs to do so more consistently alongside winning a national title.

For now, only time will tell.