James Franklin gets another shot at the problem that haunted his Penn State tenure

USA Today · , USA TODAY · 2026-11-06 11:01 UTC

One ugly stat followed James Franklin from Penn State to Virginia Tech. A ranked SMU showdown offers a chance to bury it.

James Franklin has enjoyed considerable success over his 16 seasons as a head coach.

He has lost just 62 games during that span, was one of the most successful coaches in Penn State history, and has already doubled Virginia Tech's win total from a season ago in the first year of his rebuild in Blacksburg, Virginia.

However, the Achilles' heel of Franklin's career has long been his team's performance against ranked opponents. That shortcoming played a significant role in his firing at Penn State this time last year, a decision Franklin said caught him in "shock." It came on the heels of a three-game losing streak that also included back-to-back defeats to unranked opponents, after Penn State entered the season as the No. 3 team in the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll.

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