Paul Finebaum shares 'low-hanging fruit' on James Franklin that Jim Harbaugh, Ryan Day had

Zain Bando

Paul Finebaum shares 'low-hanging fruit' on James Franklin that Jim Harbaugh, Ryan Day had image

Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Paul Finebaum has continued his criticism of Penn State coach James Franklin despite the Nittany Lions getting to the brink of a national title.

Although the Nittany Lions appear to be one of the Big Ten’s trendiest picks to win a national title, not everyone is on board with Penn State’s high hopes. Finebaum is still one of them.

“I believe that they have a chance," Finebaum said recently. "Now, it's low-hanging fruit to attack James Franklin, but he's never had the groceries like he does this year. By the way, he made it to within a second of the championship game last year. So, it's not like he was slumming it. He's a hard coach to believe in. But I also said the same thing about Ryan Day and Jim Harbaugh." 

Even though Finebaum is continuing the same narrative as he did with Day and Harbaugh, as he is with Franklin, it doesn’t mean making the College Football Playoff will get any easier. This is according to Franklin, who went on a tirade regarding the format and what he would do about it if he called the shots.

“I also think maybe there's a way to kind of do both, and I guess you could make the argument they are doing both right now, because I think the committee uses some formulas to come up with it, which I think makes a ton of sense," Franklin told reporters recently about the BCS-CFP debate. "I think at the end of the day, there's not going to be a perfect system."

The Nittany Lions lost the Big Ten title game to Oregon but found themselves in a great position once the postseason began. Penn State took down SMU and Boise State during its run before losing to Notre Dame.

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Franklin may be vocal now, but what is clear is that winning football games and maintaining a standard of excellence is something Penn State has reached but needs to do so more consistently alongside winning a national title.

For now, only time will tell.

Zain Bando

Zain Bando is a freelance writer for The Sporting News. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism. Over the years, Bando has written about various beats surrounding Illinois, Northwestern, and Kansas State Athletics but sticks to the Big Ten as his primary expertise. Outside of collegiate reporting, Bando covers MMA and boxing for MMA Knockout On Sports Illustrated and hosts/co-hosts two podcasts as part of the Empty The Bench Podcast Network – Bando's Breakdowns and The MMA Outsiders, which air weekly on YouTube and are distributed on all podcast platforms Wednesday nights and Friday afternoons. Bando is a Chicago Suburban native and a member of the FWAA and USBWA, continuing to hone his professional skills as a sports journalist and media personality. Since June 2019, Bando's byline has been featured in numerous media outlets, including MSN, Yardbarker, Deadspin, FanSided, BJPenn.com, Bridge Media Network (Sports News Highlights), Mike Farrell Sports, Reuters, and more. When Bando is not writing, he binges on old UFC fights, spends time with family and friends, memorizes every Super Bowl, and manifests all the places he still has to travel to (even while bringing his laptop).