Will zombie versions of Penn State or Florida bite a national title contender this Halloween weekend?

As the calendar flips from October to November, Halloween falls on a Friday night this year. That means it’s spooky season for trick-or-treaters and college football teams heading into a pivotal weekend of games. This is when the zombies come out to play.

Funny enough, two zombie programs are playing this weekend — Florida and Penn State. What does zombie mean? Both of those programs have recently fired their head coaches, and now we’re going to get a look at those new version teams against high-quality competition. Penn State is playing at Ohio State on Saturday at noon and Florida is facing Georgia in the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party in Jacksonville.

Let’s look a little closer at these games.

Penn State at Ohio State

This was supposed to be the year for Franklin. With the collection of returning talent, this was going to be the time for Franklin to prove he was the man to get Penn State from great to elite. Then his team lost a heartbreaker in overtime to Oregon, followed by two unfathomable losses to UCLA and Northwestern. That was it. Franklin was fired the day after the Wildcats won in Happy Valley. 

Penn State has only played one game since Franklin’s dismissal, a 25-24 loss at Iowa. 

But after an open week — a time for interim head coach Terry Smith to gain his bearings — the Nittany Lions have a chance to make a statement. Is Penn State dead, or does zombie Penn State have a chance at life?

The one thing you cannot take away from Franklin is that he was very good at mucking this game up. Yes, Ohio State won the vast majority of the time, but no matter how big the talent advantage the Buckeyes possessed, the games always felt like a slog. Does Smith know how to recreate that magic? 

Listen, Drew Allar is also out. Backup quarterback Ethan Grunkmeyer — a former top 110 player nationally in the Rivals Industry Rankings in the 2024 recruiting class from, you guessed it, Columbus — is making his second start. Did the open week give him a chance to settle in as a starter? Could he make Ryan Day regret not offering him out of high school?

Maybe Ohio State is just too good. The undefeated Buckeyes have barely broken a sweat this year and you could make a realistic case that they possess the four best players in college football — receivers Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate, safety Caleb Downs and linebacker Arvell Reece.

But Ohio State doesn’t play a ranked opponent until the Michigan game on Nov. 28. Penn State also is still one of the more talented teams in the country.

Will things get spooky?

Florida vs. Georgia

It’s easy to fall into the Florida trap.

If you look at the roster Billy Napier assembled, you could see the vision. Quarterback DJ Lagway is one of the most physically impressive players at his position in the country, the receivers are very good and the lines were solid. People — cough, me – thought Florida had a chance to surprise the world and compete for an SEC title this year.

As a result of the way Florida was built, I’ve lost week in and week out, taking points when the Gators have been underdogs. It’s hard to quit Florida.

The problem? Florida never played at a level commensurate with its talent, which is why Napier had to go. The Gators lost to USF early in the year, which was when it really felt like it was the end of the road, and followed that with losses to LSU, Miami and Texas A&M. Even a win over Texas in the middle of that wasn’t enough to save Napier.

Now Napier, who never allowed that play sheet to come out of his hands, is out of the picture. Billy Gonzales, a longtime Florida assistant who worked under Dan Mullen and Urban Meyer, is in charge. And here I am again, falling in love with a talented roster. What if a new, more effective person is calling the offense? What if that unlocks Lagway? What if the zombie version of Florida is, gulp, good?

“I think their attitude,” Gonzales said this week. “They’ve shown a lot of renewed energy. Attitude’s been fantastic, and again, just we’ve been kind of preaching to the team, making sure that we take ownership as a team, be a player-led team, and they’ve done a fantastic job coming back, preparing. … Obviously we want to continue to prepare until the foot hits the ball on Saturday, but overall, so far, it’s been a pretty good atmosphere, with these guys getting back on the field and wanting to play next to one another.” 

Positivity in Gainesville? Could Florida scare Georgia? Maybe that’s crazy, but Halloween does weird things to a man.

Georgia isn’t the Georgia of old, but the Bulldogs offense has been incredible lately. Quarterback Gunner Stockton is really coming into his own and the defense is good enough. Yes, Georgia should have lost a few more games than its record shows, but are they susceptible to getting bitten? Kirby Smart, perhaps the best coach in the sport, is still roaming their sidelines.

Happy Halloween.

Maybe zombies are real.