The burden of chasing a breakthrough became too much for Penn State to bear.

“This is not a three-game thing,” Penn State athletic director Patrick Kraft emphasized Monday, one day after firing head coach James Franklin amid a stunning three-game losing streak. “This is really diving into where we are as a program, the trajectory of the program.”

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Penn State football was finally all in, ready and willing to spend at the top of the market for players, facilities and coaches. But tired of coming up short against the best of the best, Kraft and Penn State leadership decided the program had gone as far as it could with Franklin and could not tolerate even the slightest step back.

Still, the timing of it all — and the time in the calendar — was stunning.

On an electric and eagerly anticipated Saturday night last month in Happy Valley — with most of a raucous White Out crowd of 111,015 desperately urging them on — quarterback Drew Allar and the Nittany Lions offense trotted onto the field with a chance to finally deliver Franklin and Penn State fans a cathartic signature victory. Instead, Allar threw a game-ending interception in overtime, and then-No. 6 Oregon won 30-24.

That reversal of fortune triggered a spiral. Penn State lost as a three-touchdown favorite both at UCLA and vs. Northwestern. The loss to Northwestern ended Allar’s season by injury and Franklin’s 11 1/2-season tenure.

There were no glaring signs that Franklin had lost the locker room. The players wanted to win for him. Maybe a little too much. Thin-skinned and rabbit-eared at times when dealing with fans and media, Franklin seemed to be well-respected by the people that matter most at Penn State, even until the end.

But his team, seemingly built to make a serious run at the school’s first national championship since 1986, turned out to be the most fragile title contender in the country, unable to withstand a crisis.

With 20-20 hindsight, it’s easy to spot why Penn State, which opened the season ranked No. 2, was overhyped. The Nittany Lions were replacing two All-Americans, counting on their quarterback to become the first under Franklin to ascend to stardom and assuming the head coach’s new