BREAKING: James Franklin fires OC Mike Yurcich

Note: This is a breaking news story, and the information included is subject to change.

The 2023 season has been disappointing on many levels for Penn State football. But no other area has been more frustrating than the lack of results on the offensive side of the ball. Tensions have been boiling for weeks, but have taken on a new tone in the 24 hours since the Nittany Lions suffered their second loss of the season to Michigan Saturday. And on Sunday, fans got the pound of flesh that they have been calling for for weeks, as James Franklin has fired offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich.

James Franklin fire OC Mike Yurcich

Sunday afternoon, James Franklin fired Penn State offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich. First reported by Jon Sauber of the Centre Daily Times, the news comes after the Nittany Lions suffered a 24-15 loss to Michigan at home Saturday afternoon.

Believed to be a home-run hire when brought to Happy Valley prior to the 2021 season, things ultimately never worked out for Yurcich at Penn State. While able to get the Nittany Lions to an 11-2 Rose Bowl winning season last year, the Penn State offense underperformed in 2021 and this year.

Coming into this weekend, Penn State football ranked 60th in total offense and 118th in explosive play rate. These numbers weren’t helped yesterday, as the Nittany Lions struggled to score 15 points against the Michigan defense.

Perhaps the most frustrating component of the offense’s struggles this year was the level of talent on the field. The now ex-Nittany Lions offensive coordinator was responsible for bringing Drew Allar, the highest rated QB recruit in recent Penn State history, to Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions also have a former five star running back in Nick Singleton and a potential top 10 NFL Draft pick in Olu Fashanu on this year’s team.

However, none of this was enough to get the offense going in the biggest moments this year. James Franklin didn’t hold back when discussing his disappointment in the offensive play calling after Saturday’s loss.

“We’ve got to do a better job of calling a game to allow our quarterback to get into rhythm,” Franklin said. “That is critical. We’ve got to find easy completions for a quarterback to get into rhythm. That’s what everybody does. We’ve got to do a good job of that. And then on top of that, although there weren’t sacks, there were too many pressures and there were too many times where we were not creating separation. Very similar to the other game [Ohio State] we talked about.”

Reports indicate that running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider and tight ends coach Ty Howle will jointly call plays for the Nittany Lions in the final two games of the year against Rutgers and Michigan State.

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