The sharks are circling. The buzzards are overhead. The carcass? James Franklin's 2025 season as Penn State head coach.
Before mid-October and before Penn State reached the midpoint of its Big Ten Conference slate, its season ended.
Officially, six games remain, but Penn State is neither done losing nor playing for anything beyond pride in an era where bowl games never have meant less.
The latest? The Nittany Lions lost 22-21 Saturday at plucky Northwestern.
We will be closer to November than September when the season resumes next weekend, and Franklin still will be trying to find his program's first win this season against a Power Conference. First win against a fellow Big Ten resident.
First win ... against any program with a pulse that matters.
With this backdrop, and losses in consecutive weeks to teams that entered as massive underdogs to the Nittany Lions, Franklin faced his most pointed question perhaps ever as Penn State's head coach -- or ever as a head coach.
Reporter: James, I know you said it's about the players. Do you still think it's best for your career to be the head coach at Penn State?
"Yeah, again, I take full responsibility for what happened (Saturday)," Franklin said. "I take full responsibility for what’s happened this season, and I’m committed to the guys in that locker room."
Much as a week ago, Franklin answered a pointed question with a non-answer.
But that type of tepid "ownership" of Penn State's problems is increasingly grating on the collective nerves of Nittany Lion nation.
Penn State's last four games against Power Conference foes?
Well, a come-from-ahead loss to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl, which featured Penn State squandering a double-digit lead in a neutral setting.
Then, there's the would-be miraculous rally against Oregon -- at home, no less -- when Penn State trailed 17-3 before it forced overtime, only to see Drew Allar throw a brutal pick that ended things.
Allar, in a cruel twist of fate, suffered a season-ending injury Saturday in the loss at Northwestern.
Finally, the Nittany Lions fell behind host UCLA 27-7 last week, at a time when UCLA had never held a lead against any opponent this season and already had fired its head coach.
Saturday, Penn State held the lead deep into the fourth quarter. It blew that lead, and then wasted its chance to rally for the comeback-win.
Now? The Nittany Lions are at Iowa and at Penn State in each of their next two games, and they host Indiana -- emphatic 30-20 winners at No. 3 Oregon Saturday -- the second Saturday of November.
They're not done losing, and Franklin isn't done answering tough questions.