James Franklin further takes aim at SEC, Notre Dame amid conference schedule debate

When Penn State was preparing to take on Notre Dame in last year’s Orange Bowl, James Franklin made headlines when he called for every college football team to be in a conference. The Fighting Irish, of course, compete as an independent program.

As the conference schedule debate returns to the spotlight, Franklin reiterated that stance – one he said he’s had for the last decade. But he also pointed out the difference between the Big Ten’s nine-game conference schedule and the SEC’s nine-game slate, which is front-and-center amid College Football Playoff talks.

Speaking at Big Ten Media Days Wednesday in Las Vegas, Franklin reiterated his desire for uniformity in college football and noted he was in the SEC at Vanderbilt when the nine-game schedule came up. He said that would help make the selection process more fair when it came time for the postseason.

“We played Pitt non-conference, we played West Virginia non-conference, we played Auburn non-conference and had success in all them,” Franklin said. “The good thing is, we all have the ability to build our programs the way we see best. … The thing that I struggle with is the same thing I’ve been talking about for a long time, and this doesn’t change. Everybody has to play the same number of conference games. Like, this ain’t that hard, right? Everybody should be playing eight or everybody should be playing nine. I was in that other conference when the whole discussion about going to nine games was voted on.

“Everybody should either play a conference championship game or everybody shouldn’t play conference championship. Everybody should be in a conference. I said that last year at a press conference before playing Notre Dame and everybody thought I was slighting Notre Dame. I’ve been saying that for 10 years. If I didn’t say it in that moment when I was asked the question, I’d be a hypocrite. Like, I’m gonna say it now because I’ve been saying it the whole time. And that’s not a knock. But you’re asking a group of people to get into a room and decide the best 12 or 16 teams in college football and you’re not comparing apples to apples.”

When it comes time for College Football Playoff selection, strength of schedule is an important part of the process. The CFP uses SportSource Analytics for its data to help determine the rankings and, eventually, seedings.

But James Franklin noted the issues with comparing an eight-game conference schedule with a nine-game slate. Because they’re not the same, he thinks that clouds the ensuing debates.

“The other thing is, when you try to compare a non-conference schedule from a conference that plays eight compared to a conference that plays nine, it’s going to look different,” Franklin said. “We already have another power conference team on our schedule. They’re required to play another power conference [team]. They have to, because they only play eight games. We traditionally have never played FCS teams. Other conferences are playing FCS.

“But then you get these media members that we know are not true national media members – they’re homers to certain conferences. We have them in the Big Ten. Other people have them, as well. And then, they get on and pound the table about people’s schedules. You’re not comparing the same things. It’s not going to look the same. We’re already playing nine conference games. Where does it make sense?”

James Franklin: ‘There’s an easy solution to this’

The Big Ten went to its nine-game conference schedule in 2016, when James Franklin was just a few years into his tenure at Penn State. He recalled the issues at the time, notably guaranteeing another loss for the rest of the league and concerns about “beating each other up.”

In the time since, though, Franklin said the Big Ten found different ways to set teams up for success. He noticed that particularly in the last two years, both of which resulted in a Big Ten team winning the national championship. Add in questions about the importance of strength of schedule, and he said uniforming would be an “easy solution.”

“There’s an easy solution to this. Everybody play the same number of games, everybody play a conference championship and then everything else will take care of itself,” Franklin said. “We were sold in the Big Ten all those years when we went to nine games, that strength of schedule was going to determine the teams that got into the four-team Playoff. That never played out to be the case. It never played out to be the case.

“Scheduling non-conference late games in the year – which, sometimes, can almost be like a bye week late the season – all these things are strategies that you have to decide what puts your institution, your program, in the best position to be successful. The good thing is the way it’s set up right now, we all have the choice to do that. And all the criticisms that come in either direction, they’re great for conversations and they’re great for people getting angry and upset. I’m not angry.”