Has Franklin felt distracted this season at Penn State?

ALTOONA, Pa. -- At any point this season, James Franklin could have done this below. This is what Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher, who's been linked to the LSU job, emphatically said Tuesday.

It's fantastic stuff. And you should make sure to click on the video before you continue reading this article.

At no point, however, has Franklin taken such a step to try and completely kill speculation that he might leave for another job, as he's linked to USC and LSU.

So, the speculation has continued ... and continued ... and continued. Clearly, having his name out there benefits Franklin in many ways, which is one of the reasons why he has never shot down the speculation.

But now, Penn State's season has fallen apart with four losses in five games, and there have been times when Franklin has appeared more distracted than he ever has during his tenure. The apex occurred heading into the game at Ohio State, when three times Franklin noted the upcoming opponent was Illinois, and that the game would be at the Big House.

I asked Franklin on Tuesday if he personally has felt distracted by the outside noise, and if he can understand why many people would believe that given some of his actions.

"Yeah, I get it," he said. "We've been in the same situation before, and I've had really strong seasons," he said. "I think you're also in a situation obviously this year where we've lost some games that that we had a chance to win, and our record looks a little bit different. So I get people are trying to connect the dots there.

"All the things that I'm able to control, I'm controlling. But I get it. I understand the business, I understand people's concerns. Again, I would just state looking at my track record over my time here -- eight years -- my actions, my behaviors, I think they've been pretty consistent really since I've been here."

There has not been much talk of Franklin to USC or LSU of late, since the Nittany Lions have been struggling on the field. At this stage, given the team's record this season and last (4-5), Franklin very well might have played himself out of consideration for those jobs.

That still could change if Penn State finishes strong with wins over Rutgers and at Michigan State for an 8-4 record.

As it stands, Franklin has four years left on his contract, which runs through 2025.

CLIFFORD 'BEAT UP' AGAINST MICHIGAN

The Wolverines sacked Sean Clifford seven times, and Franklin said the quarterback was hit five additional times. In a rare occurrence, Clifford was not made available to talk to the media after Saturday's 21-17 loss, so we did not get to ask him what kind of toll all those hits took on him.

Franklin addressed that Tuesday.

"I'm proud of Sean," the coach said. "Sean's a competitor. He's tough. He's given everything he can to this to this program and to this university and his teammates. But he was beat up. He's getting hit too many times."

Franklin said he had just finished meeting with Clifford an hour before his press conference.

"He is battling his tail off, and I love him, and I'm super proud of him," Franklin said. "And I know he's got a great week of practice this week, and I know he'll do the same thing and play his tail off on Saturday."

IS MOTIVATION A CONCERN FOR THE TEAM?

The Lions had extremely high expectations this season, particularly after reaching the No. 4 ranking heading into Iowa. Now they have four losses and are unranked.

It would be human nature for disappointment to set in after all of that. Franklin was asked if he's concerned about the team's motivation heading into the final two games of the regular season. 

"I think first of all, you got to be aware of it," Franklin said of that potential issue. "And I think to your point, which is fair, I think you got to be realistic. We're not robots, right? We have emotions and feelings and those things, as well. So, I'm very aware of that, with the staff and with the coaches and everything that comes with it. There's no doubt about it.

"But I would say, I look at how our guys played last week, and I thought, you watch tape, we watch the film, our guys played extremely hard. They competed their tails off. We had a chance to win the game, and that's been the case, week in and week out. That's kind of what I'm looking for practice, and that's what I'm looking for on Saturdays is, how hard are we competing? How hard are we playing?

"Is there things that we got to get cleaned up? Yeah, there's no doubt about it. But you look at the scores of our games, you look at the type of opponents we have played. I think our guys are motivated."

LOSSES KEEP PILING UP VS. TOP 10 TEAMS

The following note is incredible, really, if you think about the history of Penn State football.

Making matters worse, the Lions have had fourth-quarter leads in several of those losses.

The issue was brought up to Franklin, as he was asked what can be done differently to change that trend. As he has more frequently of late, Franklin insinuated that there simply needs to be more commitment from everyone involved at Penn State to turn everything around.

"It's everything, right?" he said. "It's recruiting, it's development, it's scheme, strength and conditioning, it's nutrition. It's everything.

"We've done some really good things, but I also know there's some things like you just mentioned that we got to get better. And that goes back to the point that I've made since since I got here is I think this is the most competitive sport in college athletics, and you have to be willing to compete in everything, year-round. The margin of error is very, very small, and you have to be willing to commit, and it's not the Saturdays. The Saturday is a part of it. But you have to be willing to compete 365 days a year with what everybody's doing in 2021."

What is he talking about there at the end?

Clearly, Franklin is referring to facilities and the need for Penn State to continue spending money and making decisions that put the football program in the best possible position to keep up with the Joneses of the college football world.

PODCAST: We discuss James Franklin's future, whether he wants to leave Penn State and if he even still has that chance.