The latest college football rumors have a new potential candidate emerging as an option to be the next Penn State coach.

F or Penn State and Clemson, preseason aspirations of getting to the College Football Playoff as respective champions of the Big Ten and ACC deteriorated quickly this fall, resulting in a coach firing at one of the programs and finger-pointing at the other.

TKO: “The Kilcoyne Opinion” is bracing itself for the annual college football coaching carousel that happens at the end of every season. This year it started early when Virginia Tech hired former Penn State head coach James Franklin with two weeks left in the current college football regular season.

As James Franklin becomes the next leader at Virginia Tech, there is one college football program who could not land the former Penn State coach.

Virginia Tech's two post-Frank Beamer hires were a coach who had not led a Power 4 program (Justin Fuente) and a first-time head coach (Brent Pry). In Franklin, Virginia Tech gets a proven winner from the Big Ten and SEC, who knows the region extremely well and will be extremely motivated to compete for league titles and CFP appearances.

Learn which TV channel or how to live stream the Michigan State Spartans vs. Penn State Nittany Lions game, Saturday, Nov. 15.

Interim head coach Terry Smith struggled through his weekly Penn State football press conference Monday, overcome with emotions about his team.

Big Ten teams with matching records will meet on Saturday as the Penn State Nittany Lions visit the Michigan State Spartans. Both squads are 3-6 overall and also 0-6 in conference play, making them and Purdue the only winless Big Ten teams.