Penn State launches post-James Franklin era at Iowa

There is picking up the pieces and then there is what Penn State is trying to do this week.Three consecutive losses not only dropped the Nittany Lions from No. 3 in the Associated Press Top 25 to zero votes in the poll, but the results dropped Penn State’s confidence in 12th-year coach James Franklin to zero. He was fired on Sunday, a day after the Nittany Lions’ stunning 22-21 home defeat to Northwestern.Interim head coach Terry Smith and the players will try to make something good happen Saturday night when they travel to Iowa for a Big Ten matchup.”We got our coach fired,” senior offensive lineman Nick Dawkins said. “We didn’t play well enough. We didn’t do our job good enough and now he doesn’t have a job anymore. For us, at least as players, it’s an overwhelming sense of guilt.”Making the task tougher is that senior quarterback Drew Allar is out for the year due to a severe left leg injury he sustained on his team’s next-to-last snap against Northwestern. Redshirt freshman Ethan Grunkemeyer, who ran for no gain on the team’s last play, replaces Allar.The Nittany Lions (3-3, 0-3 Big Ten) and their new quarterback now must face the Hawkeyes (4-2, 2-1), who just played their best game of the year, a 37-0 win at Wisconsin. Iowa permits just 13 points per game.

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