On their weekly Penn State football podcast, host Adam Bittner and Post-Gazette/Daily Collegian Nittany Lions insider Isaiah Maldonado evaluate the state of the program after a costly upset loss at UCLA.
Is there anything coach James Franklin can do to escape the toxicity surrounding his job? Does his future deserve to be in question given the elevated commitments the Penn State community has made to the program in recent years? Was Jim Knowles the right hire at defensive coordinator? Or would Dani Dennis-Sutton and the defense have been better off with some continuity in the form of a position coach like Anthony Poindexter? And how much belief genuinely exists in the Penn State locker room after Drew Allar's confident statements that the team can still make the College Football Playoff?