James Franklin on the growth of Big Ten: 'I'm proud'

When James Franklin joined the Big Ten back in 2014, the conference was in a bit of a rut. Sure, Ohio State won the national championship but from top to bottom, there was not much depth there. Penn State being down certainly played into the equation, finishing 7-6 in Franklin’s first season.

Flash forward a decade and there are arguments to be made for the Big Ten being the best conference in college football. Franklin recently admitted on The Triple Option that he is proud of how far along the Big Ten has come. Adding four schools certainly helps and only adds to the coast-to-coast quality.

“I’m proud,” Franklin said. “I think the biggest thing is the point that you just made. It’s strange that the Big Ten is now on the West Coast but I think whenever you’re able to add a USC, a UCLA, a Washington, and an Oregon to your conference — you can argue this is the strongest the Big Ten has ever been in its history from top to bottom. So, yeah, I’m of that. I’m proud of being associated with the Big Ten, I’m proud of what we’ve been able to do. I’m proud of the success on the football field and I’m proud of Penn State’s role in that as well.”

The last two national champions have come from the Big Ten. Oregon just won the conference in its first season and earned the No. 1 overall seed in the College Football Playoff. Penn State has made noise itself recently, making the CFP semifinals. We were not too far away from an all-Big Ten national championship in Ohio State-Penn State.

All this success brings comparisons to the conference down South, the SEC. At the very least, Franklin believes the Big Ten, as a whole, is right there with them. More than just on-field results go into his thinking.

“I think we both have a healthy respect for the SEC,” Franklin said. “But when you talk about national championships, when you talk about draft choices, when you talk about those things at the very, very highest level — it’s a heck of an argument year in and year out with what those two conferences are able to do.”

But at the end of the day, on-field results is what Franklin is looking for at Penn State. He is hoping the Nittany Lions will be the next Big Ten member to hoist the national championship trophy to make it three in a row. A massive season is ahead with a ton of talent returning to Happy Valley.