Paul Finebaum pushes back on idea that Penn State should've been No. 1 in Coaches Poll, blames James Franklin

The first Coaches Poll of the 2025 college football season dropped on Monday. ESPN made sure to have Heather Dinich and Paul Finebaum primed to react during Tuesday’s edition of Get Up.

Dinich believes Penn State got a raw deal. They were ranked No. 3, behind Texas and Ohio State. She believes the Nittany Lions should’ve been at the top of the list though.

“Penn State should be the No. 1 team in the country,” Dinich stated. “Look, on paper, they have far fewer questions than Texas. Drew Allar is going to be a better quarterback, he’s going to improve his NFL Draft stock. He’s also got two of the best running backs in the country in Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen.

“At defensive coordinator, they hired Jim Knowles from Ohio State. I think that’s going to be their secret weapon. When Ohio State hired him, their defense was 44th in the country, and then afterwards, they were fourth.”

While Dinich is a believer in the Nittany Lions, Finebaum isn’t quite there yet. The ghosts of James Franklin’s past still haunt the SEC Network analyst. He’s not sold on Penn State’s potential, until their coach proves the world wrong.

“I hate to be the guy telling the young lady to get off my lawn, but Heather, get off my lawn already with Penn State,” Finebaum responded. “You’re forgetting the most obvious thing, they still have James Franklin as the head coach, and he’s yet to prove that he can handle this moment.

“I’m not going to waste your time, because you were at the games he blew last year, but that’s why I can’t wrap my arms around them. On paper, yes, but he’s had good teams on paper before, and managed to choke them away.”

All told, Finebaum’s critique about Franklin coming up small in big moments has some truth to it. The latest example is Penn State holding an early 10-0 lead over Notre Dame with just over 2 minutes left in the second quarter in their CFP national semifinal at the Orange Bowl.

That’s when Fighting Irish battled back to outscore the Nittany Lions 24-14 in the second half, including a 10-0 run over the game’s final 4 1/2 minutes. Notre Dame kicker Mitch Jeter nailed a game-winning 41-yard field goal in the game’s closing seconds to punch their ticket to the national championship.

With that in mind, 2025 is a brand new season, and the Nittany Lions enter it with arguably the nation’s most well-rounded roster. That includes college football’s best backfield with senior QB Drew Allar and dualing 1,000-yard rushers Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton, as Dinich alluded to.

Time will tell whether Heather Dinich or Paul Finebaum is on the mark when it comes to Penn State. Regardless, the Nittany Lions should be a fascinating team to watch throughout the 2025 season.

— On3’s Alex Byington contributed to this article.