"We finished 5th and people are pissed" - James Franklin makes feelings known on reality of coaching Penn State

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James Franklin's Penn State is the perennial "almost there but not quite there yet" program. The Nittany Lions always seem on the verge of becoming the dominating program in the Big Ten and one of the best in the nation. Yet, this has never happened.

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Well, according to Franklin himself, this would be an unfair assessment. After all, last year Penn State managed to get itself invited to the College Football Playoff (CFP) and advanced to the semifinals, where they fell to Notre Dame. In the end, they were ranked as the No. 5 team in the country by the AP Poll.

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This is exactly the argument made by the coach during Wednesday's episode of the "Triple Option" podcast.

"I think first thing is, you got to embrace that, right? I mean, that's the nature of major college football," Franklin said. "That's part of being at a place like Penn State. I mean, we finished fifth in the country last year, and people are pissed. Right? That's what the Penn State job is about." (49:30) "You gotta embrace that. I'm very proud of what we've accomplished. We've been as consistent as any program in the country. We've been as consistent at Penn State and. Penn State's ever been since joining the Big 10."

However, regardless of how much improvement the program has shown, at some point, James Franklin will be judged by his ability to bring championships to Happy Valley.


Penn State's odds of winning the 2025 national championship

In the interview, James Franklin also shared his opinion that 2025 could be a big year for the Nittany Lions. It could be the year they finally make it big. The bookies seem to think there's a fair chance of this happening.

According to ESPN Bet, Penn State has odds of +750 of winning the 2025 college football national championship. Those are the fourth-best odds at the moment, with the top three favorites being Ohio State (+500), Texas (+500) and Georgia (+600).

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About the author

Andrés Linares

Andres is an analyst who has reported on college basketball and college football at Sportskeeda since 2023. Currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree in law from Universidad Metropolitana in Venezuela, and has minor in International Relations. Andres holds a college certificate in Sports Entities Management from Unisport Management School in Spain. He is also an alumnus of the FIFA/CIES International Programme in Sports Management by FIFA and Universidad Metropolitana, and has been accepted into the Harvard CORe online program for which he was awarded a grant.

Given his background in sports management, law and business, Andres loves any chance to jump into the industry side of things and explain what's happening behind the curtain. He takes care when it comes to separating the wheat from the chaff and ensures he refers only to appropriate and respected sources.

His favorite college team is the Arkansas Razorbacks. While Troy Aikman and Joe Montana are two of his most favorite QBs, he is also an admirer of Joe Burrow's style and is rooting for Riley Leonard to do well.

Andres is an avid reader, likes adventure sports, dabbles in rock climbing, and is also a scuba diver. He is also an enthusiastic gamer, especially when it comes to strategy PC titles and loves his fair share of Halo.

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