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ESPN College GameDay to air exclusive interview with James Franklin after Penn State firing

by: Alex Byington7 hours ago_AlexByington
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ESPN College GameDay football analyst Kirk Herbstreit speaks with head coach James Franklin of the Penn State Nittany Lions on the field before the game against the Auburn Tigers at Beaver Stadium on September 18, 2021 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

For the second time in the last three weeks, James Franklin is scheduled to make a live appearance on ESPN College GameDay. Only this time, he’ll be appearing as the now-former Penn State head football coach.

ESPN announced its “exclusive line interview with James Franklin” in a College GameDay promo on Thursday afternoon’s SportsCenter, just before the 3 pm ET hour. College GameDay will air its Week 8 traveling road show Saturday morning on the University of Georgia campus beginning at 9 a.m. ET, ahead of Saturday’s Top 10 SEC showdown between No. 5 Ole Miss and No. 9 Georgia at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.

Franklin was unceremoniously fired last Sunday, less than 24 hours after the Nittany Lions’ third-consecutive Big Ten loss — a hard-to-swallow 22-21 home defeat at the hands of unranked Northwestern. Franklin previously appeared live on the College GameDay set on Sept. 27 ahead of Week 5’s game between No. 6 Oregon and No. 3 Penn State — a 30-24 double-overtime home loss inside Beaver Stadium.

Interim coach Terry Smith admits Penn State players are ‘hurt and torn’ by James Franklin firing

While Penn State‘s decision to fire head coach James Franklin may have been a business decision, there are plenty of emotions surrounding the move. On Wednesday, Penn State interim coach Terry Smith revealed how the team is handling Franklin’s firing.

“Obviously, this is a challenging week,” Smith said. “The guys are responding somewhat. We still have some work to do. They’re all hurt and torn, disappointed in what happened. Coach brought everyone in the building in. These are young people.

“We, as adults, we have to adjust quicker. We’re just taking the time to mentor these guys and spend some quality time with them to get them interested and motivated back out here. I thought (Wednesday) was a little bit better than (Tuesday), and that’s all we want, is each day to just make some progress.”

Franklin had been Penn State’s head football coach since 2014. Hopes were sky-high for the Nittany Lions ahead of the 2025 campaign after Franklin led the program to the College Football Playoff semifinals last season.

Penn State was ranked No. 2 in the preseason AP Top 25 and began its season with three consecutive wins, albeit against inferior competition. The Nittany Lions then hit a speed bump in Week 5 with a 30-20 double-overtime loss to visiting Oregon on Sept. 27. Just 15 short days later, Franklin was out of a job.

“We all failed Coach Franklin, right? That’s why he’s not here. We failed him. And so we have to take ownership in that, and as we move forward, we have to correct it, right?” Smith said. “We want to play for him. We want to play for us. But at the end of the day, it’s the game of football that we love. So every guy in the locker room has their own why. That’s why you line up and play every snap.”

— On3’s Grant Grubbs contributed to this report.