Paul Finebaum reveals why Penn State ended the James Franklin era

On Monday morning's episode of First Take, the crew had to spotlight college football for a few minutes when SEC Network analyst Paul Finebaum hopped on board to break down the shocking dismissal of Penn State head coach James Franklin over the weekend.

That Franklin was let go as of October 12 wasn't a shock to college football fans given Penn State's three-week spiral, but that news would have hit a Nittany Lion fan over the head like a two-by-four if shared with them back in August. Because 2025 was the year for Penn State and Franklin to finally shed their demons and achieve grand postseason success. Alas... 'twas not to be.

First Take host Amina Smith commented to Finebaum that the UCLA and Northwestern losses appeared to be the straws that broke the camel's back for Penn State leadership, and Finebaum agreed and explained that while the losses themselves were horrific, it was the build-up to this season that really fast-tracked Franklin's firing.

"That is exactly right," he said of Smith's comment on the UCLA/Northwestern debacles. "And there's one more thing that cost him his job, and that happened before the season. James Franklin went to his bosses and said, 'Listen, we are good, but we're not great. We need to be elite.'"

Finebaum stressed that Franklin asked, and received, more resources than ever from Penn State... yet fell on his face in the worst way possible.

"What did they do?" Finebaum laid out. "They went to Ohio State and took away the defensive coordinator (Jim Knowles). They paid $3 million. They went into the portal and spent a fortune and they just pushed it all into the middle and he said... 'We are going to get it done because we have the best roster we've ever had, and we probably have the best team in the country.'"

Like Mike McDermott from the 1998 movie Rounders, James Franklin emptied his accounts into one hand of poker: this 2025 college football season. And by the midway point of October, he's penniless.

"And that, Stephen A., is why it all went down so quickly and so badly for James Franklin," Finebaum emphasized.

It's not just the losses... it's a total come-apart in a year where Penn State and James Franklin admitted they were all in.