Was CBS Sports' Ranking of James Franklin Too High, Too Low Or Just Right?

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Virginia Tech is inching closer and closer to the 2026 season, which starts on Saturday, Sept. 5 at 7:30 p.m. ET against VMI.

Ahead of the season, CBS Sports ranked Franklin No. 13 in its top-25 head coaching list. Here's the full bit of what they had to say.

"How many Penn State fans are fuming that the coach they fired is ranked three spots higher than the coach they hired to replace him? Probably a few. Things clearly did not go as planned for Franklin at Penn State last season. It's why he was fired, and it's why he's no longer in our top 10 after falling six spots in these rankings. Still, while Big Game James might've been given that moniker sarcastically, there are few coaches in the sport with the overall success Franklin has achieved in his career. Nobody will be surprised if Virginia Tech returns to the top of the ACC soon."

Franklin dropped six spots from his previous ranking of No. 7 in 2025, falling below BYU's Kalani Sitake, Michigan's Kyle Whittingham, LSU's Lane Kiffin, Alabama's Kalen DeBoer, Miami's Mario Cristobal and Indiana's Curt Cignetti.

My Thoughts On The Ranking

I think it's important to distinguish coaching rankings from the team itself as a whole. At first glance, Virginia Tech appears to be a squad that could finish around 8-4 if all breaks right in year one under Franklin.

By historical precedent, I think that it's entirely fair to place Franklin in the top-15. The former Nittany Lions head whistle amassed a 104-45 record at the helm of Penn State and a 128-60 all-time record as a head coach. Franklin totaled six double-digit win seasons, punctuated by a 2024 campaign (13-3) that saw his team come one game short of the national title game.

Though Franklin's record against AP Top 10 opponents sticks out – it currently stands at 4-21 at the time of writing – the only top-10 foe that Virginia Tech will likely face off against is Miami (unless Clemson returns to its old form or Virginia is even better than in 2025).

Franklin was fired Oct. 12 after Penn State started 3-3, part of an eventual six-game losing streak. The Nittany Lions won four straight to end the season, spearheaded by now-Hokies quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer. Though no quarterback depth chart has been made public, Grunkemeyer is the presumed starter due to being the only signal-caller on the roster with any collegiate snaps.

Back to Franklin: While he has yet to officially coach a real-stakes game for the Hokies, I think that by historical precedent, the ranking itself is fair when taken apart from the team itself. A coach can be ranked No. 13 but not have the 13th-best team.

This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/virginiatech as Was CBS Sports' Ranking of James Franklin Too High, Too Low Or Just Right?.

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