Episode Details

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Penn State head coach James Franklin made a decisive move on Sunday after the team’s 24-15 loss to Michigan. The team announced that it had parted ways with offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich before the play-caller finished his third season with the team. Blue White Illustrated discusses the breaking news here, and on the Blue White Illustrated YouTube Channel. Publisher, and veteran Penn State Football insider Sean Fitz discusses the move and the multi-faceted implications.

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Penn State, Franklin, moving on from Yurcich

The Nittany Lions have not had the success or continued production through three years under Yurcich. The team hired the former Oklahoma State and Texas coordinator after the 2020 COVID season. At the same time, the team entered a bad stretch of recruiting success on the offensive line and at wide receiver. The first cropped up in 2021 when the team struggled to consistently run the football. The team was 118th in the country, according to cfbstatscom in team rushing yards per game at 108.0.

The next season, Penn State still struggled to run the ball but the deep passing game never materialized with veteran quarterback Sean Clifford returning for his sixth year of eligibility. The team still finished the year 11-2 with an impressive Rose Bowl win over Utah. The Class of 2022 carried the team to an impressive ranking in what many figured would be a down year for the Nittany Lions. The story coming into 2023 was that this was Penn State’s best chance to reach the college football playoff with a young, five-star passer in Drew Allar.

The offense failed to show up in 2023 during big moments

But that’s not how things have played this year. Penn State scored 15 points during the competitive portions of its two biggest games of the year. The offense managed six points against Ohio State before a desperation touchdown, down two scores in the final minute of the game. Then this last Saturday, they improved to the tune of 9 points against Michigan.

Frustration and anger from Franklin boiled over after the game. For Franklin, calling out specific issues with the playcalling is a rare occurrence.

“We’ve got to do a better job of calling a game to allow our quarterback to get into rhythm. That is critical. We’ve got to find easy completions for a quarterback to get into rhythm. That’s what everybody does. We’ve got to do a good job of that. And then on top of that, although there weren’t sacks, there were too many pressures and there were too many times where we were not creating separation,” The head coach said after the game.

We'll discuss the situation and what comes next for the Nittany Lions, who are looking for the sixth offensive coordinator under Franklin at Penn State.

Breaking: Penn State Fires Mike Yurcich after loss to Michigan

#PennState #NittanyLions

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