Booger McFarland: Missing College Football Playoff would be 'failure' for James Franklin, Penn State

The introduction of a 12-team College Football Playoff could be seen as a saving grace for some… and a potential death knell for others. It all depends on expectations, and Penn State stands on the more demanding end of that equation.

Coach James Franklin will feel the pressure to make a playoff appearance or see the heat turned up a significant notch or two.

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“Well I think it’s huge, especially with the comments that we heard that James Franklin made this offseason that most people would be happy with 10, 11 wins a year except if you’re at my place,” ESPN analyst Booger McFarland said in an appearance on the Always College Football podcast with Greg McElroy.

“And they’re not happy with that. And the reason being, James, is because with those 10, 11 wins you haven’t beat the two teams that you need to beat. That’s Michigan, Ohio State. At some point we’ve got to understand what the job description is, ala Ryan Day. Hey Ryan Day, you can win… I think Ryan Day’s lost seven games in his career but he’s 0-3 against Michigan or something like that. Like he’s only lost six or seven games his entire career, but he’s yet to beat Michigan. And so certain things matter, and so I would say the same for Penn State.”

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It’s been three straight years of losses to both Ohio State and Michigan, with the last win against either for Penn State coming against the Wolverines back in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 campaign.

That won’t cut it for long at Penn State, and McFarland said Franklin is in danger of ending up on the hot seat if it doesn’t change soon.

“If you’re James Franklin and you are the school in that state, Pennsylvania State University, with how they’ve recruited, with how they want to play, with the talent they’ve had that’s gone on to the NFL, yeah, you should be able to compete with Michigan and Ohio State consistently,” McFarland said. “I think the narrative will shift, especially from a few years ago when James Franklin was flirting. It was the offseason where [Brian Kelly] got hired, Lincoln Riley got hired. His name was floated out there a lot. And I think Penn State re-upped his deal. And they were like, ‘OK, so you’re going to moonlight with some of these other programs in order to get your money up. I get it, that’s how the game is played. But we expect wins here. We expect Big Ten championships here. We expect to be in the College Football Playoff.'”

Does that seem overly harsh? Make the playoffs or be on the hot seat? Well, it might be.

But that may just be the new reality in college football. Top programs paying top dollar aren’t going to wait around long without a College Football Playoff appearance.

“I think James Franklin is in the same boat with Lane Kiffin, James Franklin, I think Dabo (Swinney) and there’s probably a couple of guys I’m missing that getting into the playoff is the minimum, OK?” McFarland said. “Like it’s the minimum based on where they are in building their program.”

McFarland pointed to Ole Miss and Florida State as similar examples as Penn State.

“Like as much as Lane Kiffin has talked, like if Lane doesn’t get this team into the playoff, it’s a failure,” McFarland said. “If James Franklin doesn’t get this team into the playoff, it’s a failure.

“If Florida State, even though Florida State lost, there’s certain teams that if they don’t make a 12-team playoff, you’re going to look at this team and this season as a disappointment. And I think Penn State leads that group where playoff is a minimum for them to get in, especially I think Michigan’s going to have a down year. You could say the top two teams in the Big Ten are going to be Ohio State and Oregon. OK, I need to see it play out. Penn State should be right there, McElroy.”