Penn State AD Patrick Kraft on Big Ten scheduling: 'It stinks'

New Penn State athletics director Patrick Kraft has a bone to pick with the Big Ten Conference and he made it known at media days in Indianapolis. A reporter asked the former Boston College AD how he feels about the Nittany Lions playing their first conference games of the season from 2016-2023 on the road.

“It stinks,” Kraft said, via Brett McMurphy. “I called the conference office and said this is unacceptable. This shouldn’t happen at Penn State.”

This season, Penn State hits the road on Sept. 1 for a season opener versus Purdue. James Franklin’s squad is favored to win the game with a 60.2% chance from ESPN.

Last year, it was Wisconsin, and in 2020, Indiana. Although the Nittany Lions are 4-2 in those opening conference matchups, Kraft clearly thinks starting things off on the road yearly is detrimental to the fan base.

Pat Kraft officially started in his new role on July 1.

Las Vegas releases early point spreads for six Penn State games

Las Vegas has announced six new spreads for Penn State football’s 2022 season.

FanDuel announced spreads on six Nittany Lions games, against Purdue, Auburn, Michigan,  Minnesota, Ohio State, and Michigan State. Among those games are several key conference games, which will likely determine the fate of the Big Ten East in 2022. Minnesota will be coming to Happy Valley for the 2022 whiteout game. Meanwhile, the Auburn game is a return game from last season’s whiteout.

The Nittany Lions are the favorite in four of the six games announced by FanDuel. They’re big underdogs against Ohio State, while only being slight favorites over Auburn, though.

The Spreads

• Purdue (@Purdue)
  • Penn State -3.5
• Auburn (@Auburn)
  • Penn State -1
• Michigan (@Michigan)
  • Penn State +6.5
• Minnesota (@PSU)
  • Penn State -9
• Ohio State (@PSU
  • Penn State +13
• Michigan State (@PSU)
  • Penn State -6.5

On3’s Daniel Morrison contributed to this report.