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The noise. The nostalgia. The what's next?

Penn State fired James Franklin and that has created quite a bit of discussion in Nebraska’s world. Let's dive in.

Erin Sorensen's avatar
Erin Sorensen
Oct 14, 2025
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Photo courtesy Nebraska Athletics

Let’s start with the biggest news of the week: Nebraska is wearing the all-white uniforms against Minnesota on Friday.

Just kidding. Although we are going to chat about that ever so briefly later in this newsletter…

As for the actual news, Penn State fired James Franklin on Sunday and that has created quite a bit of discussion in Nebraska’s world. By Monday morning, Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule had his name splashed across every national coaching hot board. Penn State, after all, is his alma mater, his old backyard and now the latest opening in college football’s ever-churning carousel.

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It was predictable. Rhule has the alma mater connection and the friendship with athletic director Pat Kraft. You could almost script the storyline before the press conference started.

But what’s interesting isn’t the rumor itself. It’s how Rhule chose to address it.

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