When I gave my thoughts last week that I thought it was time for Penn State to move on from head coach James Franklin, I won’t lie to you, there was still a part of me that hoped he would turn the team around and save his job after this season.

I have always been a “Coach Franklin guy” but even I realized the end was near. What I didn’t foresee was an absolutely lifeless performance against Northwestern that saw the Nittany Lions drop their third straight ball game.

The consequences of that third loss put into action the firing of Coach Franklin just six games into the season. Just last year, the Nittany Lions were a few plays away from going to the national championship, and just 22 days ago, Penn State was ranked No. 3 in the country and was leading then No. 6-ranked Oregon in overtime. After PSU couldn’t pull out yet another big win against a top 10 opponent, it’s safe to say the wheels not only came off, but the car was sitting on cinder blocks.

The Nittany Lions then proceeded to lose back-to-back games in which they were favored by 20-plus points — yet another historically bad stat to add to the 2025 season.

Those series of events became too much for the fan base to endure, as it turned into an ugly scene inside Beaver Stadium last Saturday when Coach Franklin was booed off the field with chants of “Fire Franklin” ringing throughout the tunnel, as he headed back towards the locker room.

So, it left PSU athletic director Pat Kraft with no choice, but to pull the trigger and make the move to move on from Coach Franklin. As I said last week, I personally have always liked Coach Franklin. I think he’s a great person, a really good coach and he did a lot for his players and the State College community. But the inability for his teams to beat top tier teams, especially Ohio State and Michigan over his 12-year tenure with the program, is what ultimately did him in.

Coach Franklin finished his career at Penn State with 104 victories and six 10-plus win seasons and one Big Ten title (2016). But in his time at PSU, he was 4-21 against AP top 10 opponents and 1-18 against top 10 Big Ten teams.

Enter defensive backs coach and associate head coach Terry Smith into the fold, as Smith now takes over as the interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Smith came to Penn State with Coach Franklin 12 years ago and has been the program’s top recruiter. Smith was also a standout wide receiver for the Nittany Lions and had his best season in 1991, when he led the team with 846 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns for a PSU team that finished ranked No. 3 in the country with a record of 11-2.

Coach Smith certainly has his hands full as Penn State will head to Iowa to take on the Hawkeyes in what will be a raucous environment at night inside Kinnick Stadium. Before even getting into the matchups in this game, the players’ mental psyche has to be the first hurdle to jump over, as this is a team of young men, who just lost their football coach. I’m sure getting the PSU players ready to play after all that has transpired over the past week in a normal environment, let alone a hostile one in Kinnick, will certainly be a challenge.

Challenge No. 2 will be getting new starting quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer ready to go. Grunkemeyer, a redshirt freshman, steps into the starting role after Drew Allar was injured and lost for the season late in the game last week. The Hawkeyes’ defense per usual have a physical and stingy unit, so Grunkemeyer and the entire Penn State offense are in for a challenge.

Iowa ranks seventh in the county in total defense (246.7 yards per game) and eighth in the country in scoring defense (13 points per game). Grunkemeyer was a 4-star recruit out of Ohio — not too far from where Allar played in high school. He was ranked as the 103rd player in the country and the eighth-ranked quarterback coming out of high school.

PSU offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki has not had a good season either, and his offense has been inconsistent and downright stagnant at times. With an inexperienced quarterback under center, one would assume the game plan would be predicated around the run game with Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton.

Allen has had a good year and he looked good last week until Kotelnicki went away from the run game in the fourth quarter. Allen has 467 yards on the ground at 6.7 yards per carry with seven rushing touchdowns. It really is anybody’s guess what you’re going to get from the Nittany Lions’ passing attack, but Grunkemeyer came into Penn State known for his ability to throw the ball down the field. Maybe he can provide a spark.

Challenge No. 3 is to light a fire under the PSU defense. For the past two weeks, the defense has looked lifeless. The Nittany Lions have always been known for their physical defensive play and for their ability to fly around and make plays and rush the passer. That certainly has not been the case.

Iowa is not going to wow you with its offense. The Hawkeyes rank 112th in the country in total offense and 128th in the county in passing offense. Iowa is a running team, as it averages 184 rushing yards per game. Penn State must be more physical up front than they have been over the past two weeks if they want to stay in the ball game.

Las Vegas has Penn State as a 3.5-point underdog to the Hawkeyes.

It would be hard to imagine that after everything this team has been through over the past week that the Nittany Lions could go into Kinnick Stadium and pull out the win. However, I do think the players will be playing with a little bit of an edge and a little bit of a chip on their shoulder.

Interim head coach Terry Smith made that very clear to the media on Wednesday after practice that he will not tolerate a lack of effort from the players. Coach Smith also commented that the depth chart was under evaluation, which is something that I’ve been clamoring about for weeks. If you’re not getting effort from your so-called starters, then give some of the younger guys a shot. This is a team that needs to get back to playing fast and physical.

My pick is: Iowa 27, Penn State 21.