James Franklin shares how he prepares for potential animosity from Penn State's home crowd

It’s been a brutal two-week stretch for James Franklin and his now-unranked Penn State Nittany Lions.

Two weeks ago, No. 3 Penn State hosted No. 6 Oregon in Happy Valley in what was the 22nd edition of the ‘White Out.’ This game was said to have been extremely important for Franklin’s legacy, as the Nittany Lions were just 15-28 in games against ranked opponents during his tenure. They however fell to the Ducks 30-24 in double overtime, once again igniting the ‘James Franklin can’t win the big one’ crowd.

It was a good thing Penn State had a chance to bounce back from that disappointing loss with a cupcake game against 0-4 UCLA the following weekend. Actually, that didn’t go the Nittany Lions’ way either. Now No. 7-ranked Penn State fell to the winless Bruins 42-37 in Los Angeles, marking the first win for an 0-4 team against a team ranked in the top-10 of the AP Poll since 1985.

Franklin discusses dealing with animosity from his home crowd

Now heading into a Week 7 matchup against Northwestern sitting at 3-2 on the season, Franklin shared how he is preparing for potential animosity from the crowd inside Beaver Stadium on Saturday.

“We try to control the things that we can control,” Franklin said. “We’ve had this in the past. I obviously don’t want it, nobody wants it. We want the players to have a great experience and the coaches to have a great experience. I want the fans to feel good and be excited and I know that we impact their mood for the week and the year.”

“So I get it, I do. Do I like it? Am I happy about it? No. I get it. This is a place that has high expectations and high standards. Again, it’s outside of our control and we try and pour all of our energy on the things we can control.”

Paul Finebaum claims Franklins’ ‘time is up’ at Penn State

The loss to UCLA was catastrophic for Penn State‘s chances of getting back to the College Football Playoff and has completely tanked excitement around the program. Earlier this week, ESPN‘s Paul Finebaum blasted Franklin and claimed that his time should be up in Happy Valley.

“I think it’s really in peril,” Finebaum said on Tuesday morning’s edition of ‘Get Up‘. “And, I’m not suggesting he’s going to be fired – not with a $50 million buyout. But it just feels to me like his time is up.

“He can do no better than he’s done, and he has done remarkably well but not good enough for Penn State’s standard. So, when he gives yet another lame apology, excuse, however you want to characterize it? It doesn’t resonate with his fanbase, who has just witnessed one of the worst losses in Penn State history, or any other college football team’s history. It was that bad.”

The Nittany Lions will attempt to snap their two-game skid this weekend against Northwestern. Kick-off for Saturday’s matchup is scheduled for 3:30 PM ET. The game can be seen on FS1.