The Drop, Week 7: Foster Children

It wasn't supposed to end like this for James Franklin.

It was supposed to end after this coming weekend. I really wanted Kirk Ferentz to be the last person he coached against at Penn State. 

But, in a world if "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em," Penn State ran him off after losing to (snicker) Northwestern. At home. On homecoming weekend.

Firing DeShaun Foster after three games proved to be the right move for UCLA, which has been a legitimately frightening team over the past two weekends. Most of the credit is accruing to Jerry Neuheisel, son of the last UCLA coach who was worth a darn. I've seen his name mentioned so often I thought he was the interim head coach, but it turns out it's former Fresno State player Tim Skipper. Now, Neuheisel the Younger might well be the reason behind the Bruins' reversal of fortune, but I think the optics of him getting all the credit while Skipper gets overlooked are pretty bad. If you don't agree, I'm going to guess you don't know exactly why it's a bad look, so educate yourself.

Elsewhere in Dead Men Walking: Luke Fickell is still employed after (a) giving up 37 points to Iowa in (b) Wisconsin's first shutout loss at home in over forty years. The Badgers host Ohio State this weekend. If he survives this, I'm leaning towards him getting one more year even if he loses out (which is likely). I said in my preview that Barry Alvarez himself couldn't do better than 6-6 against the 2025 Badgers schedule. 

And lastly: Watch the Two Matts (Rhule and Campbell) through the end of the season as both are considered strong candidates to replace James Franklin at Penn State. I know Campbell has said the only place he'd leave for is Ohio State, but that job isn't opening any time soon and it's probably dawning on him that Iowa State has a ceiling. Rhule is optimally positioned to do to Nebraska what he has done to every other college he's coached at: turn a good third season into a much better job somewhere else.

(Photo: “Gov. Wolf Visits Happy Valley; Meets with PSU Coach Franklin and President Barron to Encourage Vaccinations” by Governor Tom Wolf, CC BY 2.0)