Late in the evening on Sept. 27, the Penn State Nittany Lions were undefeated, ranked No. 3 in the country and had a two-touchdown lead on then-No. 6 Oregon in the fourth quarter of a home game.

Fifteen days after losing that game in overtime — and then losing two more games in which they were favored by at least 20 points — the Nittany Lions are 3-3 and fired coach James Franklin despite owing him more than $49 million.

“Penn State owes an enormous amount of gratitude to Coach Franklin who rebuilt our football program into a national power,” Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft said in a statement. “He won a Big Ten Championship, led us to seven New Year’s Six bowl games and a College Football Playoff appearance last year. However, we hold our athletics programs to the highest of st

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