It's Over for James Franklin: Week 6 CFB Recap

It's always the weeks you least expect, folks. What looked like it might be a paltry day of college football gave us what may end up being the most chaotic afternoon slate and biggest upset of the year. Never go apple picking.

Here's the recap:

- James Franklin Is Done at Penn State ... Whatever That Looks Like

Well, it seems like it's finally over. Sure, we always knew James Franklin was going to lose to Ohio State and Oregon and any other huge game Penn State played. But at least he'd handle his business against everyone he was supposed to.

And then the Nittany Lions went into the Rose Bowl as a 24.5-point favorite against 0-4 UCLA and lost. So now it's over — I'm just not sure what "over" means yet.

I still don't think it's particularly plausible for Penn State to fire Franklin and pay a huge buyout that's going to set you back tremendously NIL-wise. Maybe the administration makes it clear it would like Franklin to seek employment elsewhere and makes things uncomfortable and awkward for the rest of the season. Maybe he somehow ends up staying and we all simply accept PSU is a program that will never be able to do anything of note. But whatever form the rest of Franklin's tenure in State College takes, it's over.

Just go to Virginia Tech or Oklahoma State and do this whole song and dance again to buy yourself another decade.

- Jerry Neuheisel Is One of the Coolest Stories of the Season

For as terribly as Penn State played, you have to give credit to UCLA and particularly 33-year-old Jerry Neuheisel, who called plays for the first time in his career after offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri was fired alongside head coach DeShaun Foster.

UCLA hadn't even had a lead yet this season and somehow looked like a legitimately good offense against a Top 10 team. Nico Iamaleava may have saved his NFL aspirations with what he was able to put on tape in his first game under Neuheisel.

I don't know if Neuheisel was on his alma mater's radar for its head coaching vacancy before Saturday, but he absolutely should be now.

- Is Miami the Best Team in the Country?

I must say, I was not a Miami believer coming into 2025, but playing against the Canes seems like it's about as miserable of an experience as another college football team can have right now. UM's 28-22 win over Florida State was not nearly as close as the final score would indicate. Ohio State and Oregon would still be favored on a neutral field, but I think Miami is right there with those teams in the running for the best team in America.

The Canes have the best combined line of scrimmage units in the country, Carson Beck is back to playing like a Heisman Trophy candidate, Malachi Toney is a legitimate top-flight receiver as a true freshman and the defense as a whole will just suffocate you.

Mario Cristobal has assembled a title contender.

- Arch Manning Might Be Going Pro in Something Other Than Sports

I don't know that there's a tougher watch in the country right now than Arch Manning. The poor kid just doesn't have it.

I feel bad for him because he's not the one who was out there hyping himself up as the greatest thing since sliced bread. In fact, he seems to have shied from that for the most part — and maybe for good reason. In his two games this year against Power Four teams, Manning is a combined 33-59 for 433 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. Those games are against two very good defenses, but you have to play good defenses as the quarterback at Texas. He's simply not ready to play at the level at which Texas needs him.

The Longhorns got the ball with 55 seconds left down eight points and the only completion on their final drive came from backup Matthew Caldwell, who came into the game cold in as pressure-packed of a situation as you can possibly have and delivered a 26-yard dart to Ryan Wingo. Manning came back in and threw an incompletion and took a sack to end the game.

- The Bill Belichick Experiment Is Officially Off the Rails

Woof.

I don't know if we're going to get some sort of announcement from North Carolina in the middle of Bill Belichick's first season, but I also don't know how you can sell any aspect of this program to recruits or donors. The team is horrific, the fans are embarrassed and you have a 73-year-old head coach attempting to figure out college football for the first time. Not an enviable situation.

- Any AP Poll Voter Who Has Penn State or Texas Ranked Must Have Their Vote Revoked

We've obviously already touched on Penn State and Texas, but with their losses on Saturday, both teams still have yet to beat a Power Four team this season. If either team is ranked tomorrow afternoon, I'm going to lose my mind and any voter who puts either team in his or her poll has to be stripped of the privilege of submitting a ballot.

These polls, though ultimately meaningless tangibly, shape perception and narrative for the season. We need to take the process of creating them seriously and it seems we have more unserious voters than ever before.