When Virginia Tech hired James Franklin in mid-November, it was a huge hire for the football program. As far as Penn State fans go, they can't seem to let it go. They have obsessed with the hire since it happened. Usually, a fanbase lets it go when a coach is fired, but Nittany Lion Nation seems to be fragile.
Anyway, back in November, talk show host Craig Carton chimed in on the hiring and, well, to nobody's surprise, he was misinformed with his take. Like Penn State fans, Carton can't let it go with Franklin at Virginia Tech. Earlier this week, Virginia Tech announced that it was canceling next season's game with James Madison and paid them $800,000 to do so. Without digging deeper into the reason as to why it was happening, he said the following,
“What a bunch of cowards you people are! Virginia Tech, with the great James Franklin, wrote a check for 800K to James Madison to have them removed from next year’s schedule! You hired a coach that is afraid of the Dukies from James Madison! What a pathetic college you are!,'' said Carton.
As you can imagine, Penn State fans are eating this up. Why? Who knows, but James Franklin's obsession is greater than the hiring of Matt Campbell at Penn State for Nittany Lions fans. Go figure.
Penn State fans eating up misinformed Craig Carton take on James Franklin and Virginia Tech
So if Carton did any research, or even his producers, they would know that Virginia Tech had to cancel a non-conference game with the ACC going to nine conference games. They decided to cancel the game with the Dukes, and it will be replaced with an ACC contest at SMU. The schedule is supposed to come out later this month.
The Hokies will play VMI, Maryland, and Old Dominion next season before ACC play begins. Virginia Tech recently canceled some of its upcoming games with ODU, so that wasn't really an option. An ACC game was unlikely to be played in Week 1, and Maryland is the first game of a home-and-home.
If Carton or any obsessed Penn State fans did any kind of a deep dive, they would know that Virginia Tech has future games with Notre Dame, Arizona, Alabama, Wisconsin, BYU, and Ole Miss in the next decade. Yes, it would have been better to cancel the VMI game, but James Madison was able to pivot and pick up a game with San Diego State next September.
No matter what, Carton or Penn State fans will never look into the facts of why the game was canceled. Why? Because it wouldn't back up their negative obsession. If you thought Virginia fans were fragile, just check in on how fragile Penn State fans are.