I don't know what it is, but I think there's something else going on here.
Last year, Penn State went to the playoff and won its first game, losing to Notre Dame by 3 points in the second round. This year, as the meme points out, they led #3 Oregon in OT.
Now, 6 games removed from the CFP, and three weeks after almost beating Oregon, they're paying Franklin $49 million to go away.
The two games after Oregon were bad. They lost to a previously winless UCLA team. At the postgame conference, Franklin looked like he thought he was in trouble, saying something like, "...mumble, mumble, ummmmm.... jet lag....ummmm, mumble, mumble."
Then they lost to Northwestern at home, and he looked like the dead man walking that he knew he was. I agree with the earlier post that speculated Franklin was taking in the stadium one last time as he was being sent off with boo birds ringing in his ear.
Still, here's the timeline:
2024 -- 2nd round of CFP
September 14 -- Week 4 AP Poll -- #2
September 28 -- Week 6 AP Poll -- still #7 after the loss to Oregon in OT. Oregon now the #2 team.
October 5 -- Lose to previously winless UCLA as a 3TD+ favorite. Bad loss. Clearly unprepared.
October 12 -- Lose by 1 at home to Northwestern as a 3TD favorite
October 13 -- Fired with $49 million buyout.
My smell-o-meter is redlined. There's something going on other than losses to UCLA and Northwestern.