The GIST: The college football coaching carousel kicked into high gear on Sunday when Penn State fired head coach James Franklin following three straight losses: a double-overtime heartbreaker against No. 8 Oregon, then back-to-back upsets at the hands of Big Ten bottom-feeders UCLA and Northwestern. Everyone’s buzzing about his ouster, and not just because of the $50M buyout.

• After coming within one play of last year’s College Football Playoff (CFP) national title game, the Nittany Lions landed the preseason No. 2 spot — making their 3-3 start, subsequent fall from the AP Top 25, and Franklin’s axing all the more shocking. Let’s discuss.

‼️ Franklin’s big-game reputation: He’s tied for Penn State’s second-winningest coach, going 104-45 across his over 11-year tenure in Happy Valley and becoming a perennial contender in the cutthroat Big Ten. But Franklin’s notorious for losing on the sport’s biggest stages: He posted just a 4-21 record against top-10 teams and has now lost 15 straight against top-six opponents. Woof.

• Last year’s goal line stumbles in the Big Ten Championship and the CFP semifinals solidified his reputation for failing to get over the hump — so when the aforementioned three-game catastrophe hit, frustrated fans were more than ready to call for his job.

👀 Did he deserve to be fired?: That’s up for debate. Franklin turned this program from a dumpster fire to a CFP semifinalist, reaching double-digit wins (the mark of a great year in college football) in six of 11 seasons, so his unceremonious midseason canning feels harsh. Plenty of players and alum have voiced their support for him.