This Week in Our Dumb, Beautiful Sport: James Franklin is Gone, Indiana Has Arrived, and Ohio State Never Left

By Ryan Ginn on October 13, 2025 at 9:10 am
Penn State fans have had a tough 2025
James Lang-Imagn Images
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Welcome to This Week in Our Dumb Beautiful Sport, a weekly look at the chaos that reigns over the most perfectly imperfect world of college football.

Are you a Big Ten team that's not in the news? Congratulations, you must be Rutgers. 

BIG TEN TAKES CENTER STAGE

I will address many of these individually as well, but I just want to present the totality with which the Big Ten dominated the college football world -- both on and off the field -- during Week 7. 

  • Penn State fired (!!!!) James Franklin, a coach who made the CFP semifinals last season and had his team ranked No. 3 less than three weeks ago.
  • Speaking of being ranked No. 3, Indiana silenced its haters with a road win at Oregon. The Hoosiers are now No. 3 and look like a legitimate championship contender. Indiana!
  • Ohio State's defense put the clamps on Illinois quarterback Luke Altmeyer, strengthening their case as the CFP favorite and winning the magnificent Illibuck.
  • Michigan looked mediocre, which is how they often look under Sherrone Moore. 
  • Nebraska is ranked in the top 25 in October for the first time since 2016. 
  • UCLA, who seemed destined for 0-12 after getting smoked by New Mexico, looks like an actual football team. 
  • USC put Michigan in a wood chipper, setting up a very big game against Notre Dame. 
  • Wisconsin got blown out by Iowa, putting the final nail in Luke Fickell's coffin. 

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR, PENN STATE

Penn State fired James Franklin on Sunday, a stunning turnaround from a team that was very close to beating Oregon a few short weeks ago.

“Penn State owes an enormous amount of gratitude to Coach Franklin who rebuilt our football program into a national power,” Penn State AD Pat Kraft said. “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 standards, and we believe this is the right moment for new leadership at the helm of our football program to advance us toward Big Ten and national championships.” 

I'm going to preface this with a disclaimer: I think James Franklin is a flawed coach who is the subject of many legitimate criticisms, particularly his inability to win the biggest games he plays. It's probably not fun to root for a team that never wins the big ones! He doesn't always push the right buttons, his personality can rub people the wrong way, the fan base is sick of every season going the same way, and he clearly made a fatal error in hitching his wagon to Drew Allar. 

Now, with all of that being said...  what exactly are we doing here? Heading into this season, he had gone 34-8 in his last three seasons and won 10 or more games six times in nine seasons. The last time Penn State went on a run of similarly sustained success, coal mines were thriving. Would he have won a national championship there? No, almost certainly not. But he came awfully close to playing for one less than 12 months ago, which flies in the face of about three decades of recent Penn State history. That uphill battle, by the way, is only getting steeper. Now you get to fight three of the biggest money printing factories in CFB -- Ohio State, Oregon, and Michigan -- in the NIL era, and in-state recruiting (where you can theoretically get a hometown discount) is producing fewer blue chip recruits than it used it. On top of that, $50 million of your NIL budget just got spent paying the previous coach to no longer work there. 

Have y'all seen a list of the coaches being mentioned for the job? I would describe it as a list of people significantly less accomplished than James Franklin. If Penn State wants to pay $50 million to have Matt Rhule or Matt Campbell coach their team, I suspect they're going to get exactly what they deserve. What's the best-case scenario here? Luring away 64-year-old Curt Cignetti? Speaking of which...

INDIANA IS THE REAL DEAL

I wrote a few weeks ago that Indiana looked like a legitimate contender to make a second consecutive CFP appearance. Now the Hoosiers look like a contender to win it. Indiana went to Autzen Stadium, where Dan Lanning had only lost won game previously, and outplayed and physically overmatched the Ducks in a 30-20 win. 

Cignetti will no doubt be mentioned as a Penn State candidate, especially since he was born in Pittsburgh, but he's building something special in Bloomington and might not need to leave to get where he wants to go. 

MICHIGAN LIGHTING MONEY ON FIRE

When Michigan begged a billionaire to buy them a 5-star quarterback, they should have considered asking for a coach as well. What exactly do the Wolverines do well under Sherrone Moore? Outside of his wins against Ohio State -- one of which was filling in for a suspended Jim Harbaugh -- he is a career 9-7 coach whose teams look extremely ordinary. 

It was more of the same for the Wolverines, who lost 31-13 at USC in a game that was rarely close. Michigan has a pretty soft schedule -- avoiding Indiana, Oregon, Illinois, pre-implosion Penn State, etc -- so the record might still end up respectable, but does anyone believe this team is dangerous? Even Michigan fans are fed up. 

ILLIBUCK STAYS IN COLUMBUS

One of the best trophies in college sports belongs to Ohio State yet again. The Buckeyes shut down Illinois to keep their season rolling and claim the Illibuck trophy. 

This is a season of flawed teams, but Ohio State keeps showing week in and week out why they're the favorite to repeat as national champions. 

ARCH MANNING REVENGE GAME

I will give Arch Manning credit on this one: He certainly outplayed Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer on Saturday. Although he only threw for 166 yards, Manning kept the chains moving and did what he needed to do in a 23-6 win over the sixth-ranked Sooners. 

The Longhorns are still a ways away from entering the CFP picture thanks to two prior losses, but they'll have chances to boost their resume (or fade away) with games against Vanderbilt, Georgia, and Texas A&M still left on the schedule. 

HOW BAD WAS DESHAUN FOSTER?

What's in the water in Westwood? A week after sowing the seeds that led to James Franklin's firing, the Bruins traveled to East Lansing and laid the wood to Michigan State in a 38-13 blowout. 

It also included a pretty sick fake punt:

THIS WEEK IN SEC UNDERACHIEVEMENT

As it currently stands, the SEC's national championship hopes likely lie in the hands of an Alabama team that keeps living dangerously and Texas A&M, who last won a national championship in 1939. The rest of the pack spent the weekend once again failing to pass the eye test.

No. 4 Ole Miss almost lost to an impossibly bad Washington State team. 

No. 10 Georgia was in real trouble against a bad Auburn team before pulling away to win 20-10.

No. 11 LSU still can't score, beating South Carolina 20-10 after committing multiple turnovers at the opposing 1-yard line. 

No. 12 Tennessee barely beat Bobby Petrino's Arkansas, escaping with a 34-31 win. 

And then there's No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 14 Mizzou, who did lose. Not good!

YOU GOOD, FSU?

Is Florida State going to have to fire their coach after opening the season with a two-touchdown win over Alabama? Look at this preposterous stat following the Seminoles' loss to Pitt and a true freshman QB:

SOMEONE IN AGGIELAND HAD A GOOD SATURDAY

I'm all for having fun, but you generally want to keep your BAC at a number far below Tony Gwynn's career batting average. 

PLAY OF THE WEEK

The Oklahoma State pied piper of shirtless dudes is the story of the college football season as far as I'm concerned. It's why we all love this dumb, beautiful sport. Even when our teams are bad, college football fans still find a way to have fun.  

IDIOT OF THE WEEK

I hate to put someone on blast like this for one play (no I don't, but let's pretend), and quarterback is a hard enough job as it is, but this game-sealing interception from Mizzou quarterback Beau Pribula is just so bad. Forget the throw itself and look at the bottom of the screen. If Pribula notices wide receiver Marquis Johnson, who was the recipient of an instant coverage bust, Johnson probably jogs into the end zone for the game-winning score. Instead, it was yet another reminder of why they're Mizzou and Alabama is Alabama. 

REF JAIL INMATE OF THE WEEK

It doesn't excuse the fact that they only gained about 12 yards in the second half, but Auburn very clearly crossed the plane and should have been up 17-0 with less than two minutes until halftime. Instead, it was ruled a fumble recovered by Georgia, who hurried down the field to kick a field goal before halftime and then outscored the Tigers 17-0 in the second half. 

NO CONTEXT SCORES OF THE WEEK

Here are some scores that caught my eye for any number of reasons – randomness, outcome, unique matchup – that shall remain unknown:

Utah 42, Arizona State 10
Notre Dame 36, North Carolina State 7
Texas A&M 34, Florida 17
South Florida 63, North Texas 36
Minnesota 27, Purdue 20
Bowling Green 28, Toledo 23
Marshall 48, Old Dominion 24

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