Dan Patrick: James Franklin said to be interested in USC job

We’re only three days away until one of the marquee games of Week 3 of the college football season as the Penn State Nittany Lions will host the Auburn Tigers on Saturday night at Beaver Stadium in front of a national television audience on ABC.

It’s two days since USC parted ways with head football coach Clay Helton, and speculation began almost immediately that Penn State head coach James Franklin is a strong candidate to replace Helton at the helm of the Trojans program.

On Wednesday, nationally syndicated radio host Dan Patrick told his audience that a source told him Franklin is indeed interested in the opening at USC.

During his weekly press conference on Tuesday, Franklin didn’t address the rumors linking him to the USC job.

“I can’t stand any form of distraction,” Franklin told the media on Tuesday. “I’ll discuss this today with the leadership council, so that we can make sure that all of our energy is on our preparation for Auburn.”

We’ll see what type of impact all this speculation has on the Nittany Lions as they prepare for Saturday’s matchup with Auburn.