Almost poetic.

James Franklin recorded his 100th win as Penn State’s head coach against SMU in the first round of the College Football Playoff. The Nittany Lions took down the Mustangs 38-10.

Franklin signed on to be Penn State’s head coach in 2014 after a stint at Vanderbilt. With Saturday’s win, he improved his record to 100-40 at Penn State and 124-55 at both schools. Franklin has seven years left on his contract after signing a 10-year extension in 2021 and earns $7 million a year as his base salary, plus an annual retention bonus of $500,000.

Franklin reached Saturday’s mark with his first-ever appearance in the College Football Playoff.

Franklin is Penn State’s third-winningest head coach, trailing Joe Paterno and Rip Engle, who accounted for 409 and 104 wins, respectively.

The Nittany Lions next return to action against Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 31, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.

About the Author

Joe Lister

Joe, shockingly, was Onward State's managing editor from 2024-25. It was an honor. He's off employed doing journalism things, hopefully. If you want to complain about anything he's ever written, you can find him on Twitter (iamjoelister), email (jlister2021@gmail.com), or Signal (iamjoelister.93).

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