Penn State canceled Sunday’s practice after the announcement of James Franklin’s firing. The Nittany Lions now face the challenge of moving forward without their longtime head coach of ten years, as discussions about potential replacements have begun in full swing.On “The Triple Option” podcast with former Alabama star Mark Ingram and analyst Rob Stone, ex-Ohio State coach Urban Meyer suggested UNLV’s Dan Mullen as a strong candidate to replace Franklin.“How about Dan Mullen?” Meyer quipped. “Damn right he is (undefeated), scored 51 last week. And you know, he’s from the northeast, by the way.”Mullen has a career record of 109-61 over 14 seasons and has also been mentioned by ESPN as a possible contender for the Penn State job.Meyer praised the Mountain West Conference coach, but he admitted to being surprised by Franklin’s dismissal.“I was shocked,” Meyer said on Tuesday in his podcast. “Obviously, (Pat Kraft) made a decision. The word on what I’ve heard from several sources is that this was one man’s call, the athletic director, which it really should be, the board was really not aware.”“Obviously Craft knows what he's doing. Penn State's probably got a heck of a reservoir of money somewhere. I don't know where it is, but I've always tend to side on the side of the coach. I think this was an overreaction.”Even team captain Nick Dawkins and several Penn State players have expressed feelings of guilt and sadness since Franklin’s firing.Interim HC Terry Smith aims to reignite Penn State’s spirit after James Franklin’s firingPenn State athletic director Pat Kraft said his decision to part ways with James Franklin came from his desire to give the “student-athletes the best chance to win” and to keep building the program into one of the nation’s elite.Interim coach Terry Smith is tasked with refocusing the PSU squad as they prepare for a high-pressure game against Iowa at a sold-out Kinnick Stadium on Saturday night.“[I have to] pick their spirits up,” Smith said at Wednesday's conference. “It's so much more than just the game. Yeah, we’ve got to prepare for Iowa, but I have to get these guys emotionally ready to go play a football game.”Smith said that his players are in a “fragile” emotional state after Franklin’s dismissal but expressed confidence in their resilience.“These kids are going to play hard on Saturday,” Smith said. “I can see that. I talked to them, I talked to the leadership council.“One thing I won't accept is a lack of effort, and the guys know that. They understand that. And we hope we're going to win, but we're going to play hard.”Meanwhile, Kraft also urged the Penn State community to “rally around” the players and block out the distractions surrounding Franklin’s exit. Franklin leaves Penn State with a 104-45 record, including 64-36 in Big Ten play.