"There's a lot that comes to you": Ryan Day gets 100% real on James Franklin's firing before Ohio State's Week 8 showdown

Penn State fired its longtime head coach on Sunday following a disastrous game against Northwestern in Week 8. It marked the end of a 12-year stint by the veteran coach, where Penn State underwent major rebuilding and elite talents graduated from the school. His dismissal sent shockwaves across the college football community even though a move like this was expected owing to his inability to win big games against ranked opponents.

Reacting to the dismissal, Ohio State head coach Ryan, who has been a longtimeadversary of Penn State, shared that Franklin is a highly capable coach and what happened was unfortunate.

Day mentioned that instances like these are reminders for coaches about the volatility of college football and that Franklin will eventually land on his feet.

"James, anytime you are somewhere for as long as he has, you do a lot of great things. We had a lot of great games against each other. He's gonna land on his feet. He's a really good coach,” Day said to the reporters on Tuesday.

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Day also added that it was time for fans and teams to move on from the past and that Ohio State is on a stable path and wouldn't want to alter the momentum.

“I think, for all of us, we need to make sure we focus on what matters to us and what's at hand. I said it before, whether it's the negative things or the positive things or things like that, those are all kinds of noise out there. ... "There's a lot that comes at you, whether you're a player or a coach, our ability to focus and concentrate on what's important is what's critical, so that's what we got to do,” he added.

James Franklin could be a potential target for top teams in college football

Even though Coach Franklin didn't have a happy ending to his Penn State stint, he is a potential target among top programs in the country. With Billy Napier's poor run at Florida, the Gators could be looking at options if the team decides to part ways with the veteran coach.

Similarly, teams like the Arkansas Razorbacks, Wisconsin Badgers, and UCLA Bruins are some of the teams that could potentially target him. His expertise in rebuilding programs, especially when he joined Penn State in 2014, was remarkable.

Edited by Deepesh Nair