Penn State head coach James Franklin often finds his name mentioned in other vacancies across college football. This week, the spotlight is on Florida State. Franklin got a question about another wave of speculation regarding his name and other vacancies Tuesday during his press conference.

Franklin's answer was no surprise to those that follow him, but he injected some humor into the denial as well.

“As you know, we work very, very, very hard at staying focused at the task at hand. That’s with everybody. Whenever anything comes up, we try to address it to make sure that everyone kind of understands where we’re at with everything, with coaches, with players, with recruits, with all of it. We try to stay as focused as we possibly can on the task at hand. All of those things that take away from that, we try to stay away from as much as we possibly can.”

Franklin then took a friendly dig at PJ Fleck, another popular name on many coaching hot boards. Any distractions before Saturday are welcome.

“I’ve also heard PJ’s name mentioned for a bunch, so you guys could spend a lot of time calling him and talking to him about it,” Franklin said. “We love it here. I really enjoy coaching these guys and don’t really see that changing any time soon. I’m looking forward to playing Minnesota … I would love for all of you guys to call them all week long. I’ve got his number. I’ll give it to you.”

Franklin’s full focus, as expected, is on a road trip Saturday to face an undefeated Minnesota Gophers team. Penn State also sits with an undefeated record into November, and projects to rank fifth in tonight’s initial College Football Playoff ranking reveal.

“I thought we had a really good bye week, but obviously we have to have a great week of preparation this week so we can go play well on Saturday,” Franklin said.

Other names thrown around include both Bob and Mark Stoops as well as a pair of Clemson coordinators. Bob Stoops denied his candidacy for the job through Kirk Herbstreit earlier today, and Mark Stoops offered a brief response when asked at his Monday press conference at Kentucky.

Florida State fired Taggart Sunday after the Seminoles lost to rival Miami. Taggart’s departure comes less than two years after he was announced as FSU’s 12th full-time head coach. The hire, made on Dec. 5 2017, was initially considered a success as the Seminoles swiftly navigated through a coaching search following Jimbo Fisher bolting for Texas A&M. Taggart had a track record of flipping losing programs at previous stops (Western Kentucky, USF) and had a solid first year at Oregon in 2017, going 7-5 while building a top-tier recruiting class. Via a press release on Sunday, FSU announced that long-time assistant and former Seminole player Odell Haggins would handle the interim head coach role going forward as the Seminoles have three more regular season games remaining - traveling to Boston College this weekend before hosting Alabama State in their final home game and then wrapping up the 2019 regular season with their annual rivalry game at Florida.

"Obviously, I am disappointed in the decision today as I believe our future is bright at Florida State,” Taggart said in a statement. “Building a program and a culture takes time, and I regret that we will not have the opportunity to continue to coach these incredible young men. I want to thank first and foremost our student-athletes, who never stopped believing and who deserve to find success. I also want to thank our coaches and staff who believed in what we were building and who are among the finest men and women in our profession.