Unfiltered Takes after Week 7: James Franklin, Luke Fickell, Brent Venables, Texas and more

A lot happens on college football Saturdays. It’s hard to keep up with everything.

So this season, in an attempt to bring everybody up to speed — while taking a chance to provide you with some takes in the process — I’m going to rattle off over-arching thoughts from the previous weekend. I’ll also do my best to spring thoughts forward, not just tell you what already happened.

Let’s keep it going with the latest edition of Unfiltered Takes.

1. James Franklin: Evan Abrams of the Action Network shared this crazy stat after Penn State’s shocking loss to Northwestern on Saturday: James Franklin is the first coach in 30 years to lose consecutive games as at least a 20-point favorite. This year for Franklin was going to prove whether he had the chops to take Penn State to the next level. Regardless of what happened, this year was going to be a referendum on his ability to get this program over the hump. Coming into the season, the worst-case scenario felt like Penn State losing to Ohio State and Oregon again, but still winning 10 games. No, it got unimaginably worse. That’s inexcusable, especially after Franklin said in the offseason this was the best combination of talent and staff he had at Penn State. That was enough to make it clear to the Penn State brass that Franklin wasn’t the right man for the job, so they swiftly fired him. What has to be done eventually should be done now, right?

2. The buyout: The Nittany Lions owe their former head coach $48.6 million. It may seem like we’re in bizarro land because people are supposed to strain to pay an amount like that. Penn State, though, may be able to mitigate the exposure of that expense if Franklin finds another job, which I suspect he will. However, when a program feels it has no choice but to move on from a coach, Penn State has shown that expensive buyouts won’t deter programs from making tough decisions.

3. More firings are coming: Let me ask you this: if you had to have emergency surgery to save your life, how much would you be willing to pay? Every cent you have, right? Penn State felt like it was fighting for its life when deliberating over the Franklin firing. They didn’t flinch at paying the bill. If programs deem a move necessary, they will cover the costs of expensive buyouts.

4. Luke Fickell: Wisconsin’s 37-0 loss to Iowa is rock bottom. Luke Fickell said after the game, “That’s as low as you can go.” Later in his postgame news conference, he was asked if he felt Wisconsin was in a better position as a program now than before he took over. Fickell shrugged his shoulders and said, “Better position? No, right now we’re not feeling too good.” The answer is no. And in year four of his tenure, that’s inexcusable. In year four, that can’t be reality. And with Wisconsin’s remaining schedule, things are only going to get worse. There shouldn’t be a year five.

5. Brent Venables: On Friday, any discussion of Oklahoma coach Brent Venables being on the hot seat would have been ridiculous. But a lot happened over the weekend. First, Oklahoma laid an egg against Texas in the Red River Rivalry. Second, Franklin got fired. Putting those two things together and also evaluating Oklahoma’s remaining schedule, things could start deteriorating again quickly in Norman. Though I have a ton of respect for Venables — and can acknowledge last year’s injury luck put him in an impossible situation — it’s important to point out he can’t let this season get away from him. He’s not out of the woods even after an incredible start. Oklahoma faces South Carolina on the road next week before finishing the season with five consecutive games against Ole Miss, Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri and LSU. Venables needs to find wins there or he could find himself in hot water.

6. John Mateer: You can’t say enough about John Mateer and how gutsy it was to return from hand surgery so quickly to play in the Texas game. So much is made of NIL and how transactional college football has become, but for a quarterback to fight like hell to play in the rivalry game because it matters to him is a reminder of what makes college football so great. Some may question whether he played poorly because he returned too quickly, but that’s not what’s important to me. What is important is that he got back out there with his team and fought like crazy to get the Sooners a win. That’s gutsy, and you feel Oklahoma is much better off this year because he is in Norman.

7. Brian Kelly: LSU is off to a 5-1 start, but the way the Tigers have performed offensively makes you feel like it has been much worse. LSU has a tough three-game stretch coming up against Vanderbilt, Texas A&M and Alabama and Kelly’s situation feels dicey. This is the most important three-game stretch of Brian Kelly‘s tenure at LSU, and you know people in Baton Rouge are getting antsy. Right now, it doesn’t feel like anyone is safe, and Kelly has to be feeling the pressure.  

8. Mike Norvell: Florida State lost its third game in a row on Saturday, falling short to Pitt at home. Florida State got a taste of glory again this season when it opened the year with a 31-17 win over Alabama, but the wheels are falling off. Again. Mike Norvell deserves a lot of credit for the team he assembled two years ago, the one that was unjustly left out of the College Football Playoff. But a year removed from going 2-10, the last thing he needed was another prolonged losing streak. You could argue that beating Alabama makes the current situation feel worse for the fans. Seminoles fans are completely out on Norvell and, honestly, it’s hard to blame them. Is he too expensive to fire?

9. Texas: Texas is back as a program, but it isn’t back as a team in 2025. That’s not to strip credit away from the hard-fought win the Longhorns got over Oklahoma in Dallas over the weekend. Being completely truthful, though, Texas isn’t the team we thought it would be this year. Steve Sarkisian has done a tremendous job rebuilding the program, but there are too many issues to overlook. Texas’ offensive line has been horrid, and though Arch Manning played a very good game against the Sooners under the circumstances, it’s hard to envision him fully getting comfortable running for his life every time the ball touches his fingertips. The offensive playmakers aren’t helping him out, either. Texas controls its own destiny for CFP contention, but my prevailing thought leaving the State Fair on Saturday was it feels inevitable Texas’ warts are going to be exposed again at some point.

10. The SEC: We’re roughly halfway through the season, but this question hit me late Saturday evening: who, in the SEC, is unequivocally elite? Yes, Alabama is playing well, having beaten three ranked opponents in a row. Yes, Georgia is, well, Georgia. Texas is talented. There’s also a lot to like about Texas A&M. But when you zoom out, which team in that conference would you currently put on the same tier as Ohio State, Miami or, yes, Indiana? As we get more context, that may change, but right now, the three favorites to win the national title are either in the Big Ten or the ACC.

11. Indiana: If you read Indiana in the previous section and rolled your eyes, stop it. We’re not doing that again this year. If you wanted to bash the Hoosiers for skirting tough games and being blown out by its only elite opponent last year, fine. That was valid. But this Indiana team is better than last year’s Hoosiers and now it isn’t based on notions. Indiana went to Oregon and straight-up beat one of the deepest, most talented teams in college football. Indiana may turn out to be a tier below Ohio State and Miami, but with the information we have right now, it is just as good. If you don’t think Indiana could beat Ohio State or Miami, let me humbly ask you this: did you think the Hoosiers would beat Oregon by two scores? No, you most certainly didn’t.

12. Parity: Most college football fans will tell you they want and promote the idea of parity. But whenever a team that isn’t a traditional power or hasn’t had any recent success joins the national conversation, the entire country dismisses their validity. It happened with Indiana last year and last week. It happens with Texas Tech. It happens with Texas A&M to a much lesser extent. It happens with others, too. Why are we as college football consumers so unwilling to acknowledge that a team is good until they are as good as Ohio State? It blows my mind how people have the audacity to call Indiana frauds without acknowledging the unbelievable job Curt Cignetti did in turning a Big Ten afterthought into a College Football Playoff team. Do we really want parity?

13. Alabama: There is no greater example of how quickly narratives change in this sport than Alabama’s season so far. After losing to Florida State in the opener, plenty of Alabama fans wanted Kalen DeBoer out. Now, after three consecutive wins over ranked opponents, the Crimson Tide look like one of the four best teams in college football. Much of this can be attributed to quarterback Ty Simpson, who has been playing exceptionally well while leading the team back to prominence. I said earlier in this piece that no SEC team belongs in the top tier, but the first one that should jump out at you is Alabama. Next up? The fourth game in a row against a ranked opponent when Tennessee comes to town Saturday.

14. USC: The Trojans showed the entire country that it isn’t going to be bullied every time it plays a traditionally tough Big Ten opponent from the Midwest. You could make the case with a straight face that the Trojans’ 31-13 win over Michigan was the single most important win of the Lincoln Riley era. Not only did USC win the game comfortably, but it also out-rushed the Wolverines 224-109. USC took one on the chin against Illinois a few weeks ago, but if it can do that to Michigan, that gives you renewed faith that the Trojans will be able to hang with Notre Dame this weekend. Even with a loss, USC is firmly in the CFP race right now and playing with a chip on its shoulder. It’s noticed.

15. Texas A&M: This ain’t your daddy’s Texas A&M. The Aggies are really good. And while much of the fan base is cautiously optimistic, it’s time for the entire country to start wrapping their heads around Texas A&M in the CFP. The Aggies may trip up once or even twice, but their remaining schedule is Arkansas, LSU, Missouri, South Carolina, Samford and Texas. There isn’t a single team on the schedule that Texas A&M is not good enough to beat. From my estimation, it seems like the Aggies are in the CFP if they go 1-2 against LSU, Mizzou and Texas and don’t get upset. That’s not too much of an ask for Mike Elko’s squad.   

16. Auburn: Hugh Freeze is another coach that could find himself on the hottest of hot seats in the next month, but honestly, I just feel bad for him right now. Auburn has found itself on the wrong side of big-time officiating blunders in two of its three SEC losses. To review, the Oklahoma trick play touchdown that was deemed to have been illegal after the game. Then, of course, quarterback Jackson Arnold appeared to score a touchdown on a goal-line sneak that would have put the Tigers up 17-0, but it was controversially reversed after a review. Auburn still had plenty of opportunity to beat Georgia and amassed less than 50 yards in the second half, but the Tigers have been catching some rough, game-altering breaks in SEC play.

17. UCLA: A week removed from UCLA‘s shocking win over Penn State, the Bruins came out on top for the second week in a row, beating Michigan State, 38-13. Fun fact: UCLA controls its own destiny for the CFP. All jokes aside, though, not enough can be said about the work offensive coordinator Jerry Neuheisel has done with these Bruins. It’s downright absurd how a coaching change could lead to a completely different team in such a short amount of time. Bruins head coach Tim Skipper has done a remarkable job as the interim head coach.

18. Georgia Tech: Georgia Tech should have lost to Wake Forest a few weeks ago, which makes analyzing the 6-0 Yellow Jackets a little more difficult. But Georgia Tech won that game and beat Virginia Tech over the weekend. When you look at Georgia Tech’s remaining ACC Slate — Duke, Syracuse, NC State, Boston College, Pitt — it’s getting easier to see a world in which the Yellow Jackets make it to Charlotte. We’ll get a real idea of just how good this team is when it faces Georgia on Nov. 28, but this team is exciting and interesting. Quarterback Haynes King is a dog. Welcome to the national conversation, Georgia Tech. 

19. Texas Tech: In case you lost track, Texas Tech blew out Kansas over the weekend. Though the Red Rebels’ schedule hasn’t been overly difficult, they have continually made traversing an incredibly unpredictable conference look easy. Beating Utah and Kansas may be expected, but in the Big 12, it’s not supposed to be a walk in the park. The win over the Jayhawks happened with quarterback Behren Morton getting hurt again. Next weekend, Texas Tech goes to Tempe to take on Arizona State. Is another blowout coming? 

20. USF: There are still a handful of teams that are still alive to represent the Group of 5 in the CFP, but USF looks like the team most built to make noise in the postseason. The Bulls traveled to North Texas on Friday night to face another team in the mix and outclassed the Mean Green in terms of talent. It was a close game for a half, then USF just blew North Texas off the field. Yes, USF lost handily to Miami, but the Hurricanes are one of the best teams in the nation. The Bulls would likely play a competitive game against most top-tier Power 4 teams.