Are You Excited About Penn State's Non-Conference Schedule? James Franklin Is

Franklin consistently has advocated for playing friendlier non-conference schedules, primarily because the Big Ten plays nine conference games, while the SEC (to which Franklin referred as "that other conference") plays eight. Indiana coach Curt Cignetti backed Franklin's argument when asked about canceling a non-conference series vs. Virginia.

"So we figured we would just adopt the SEC scheduling philosophy, you know," Cignetti said. "Some people don't like it. I'm more focused in on those nine conference games."

So is Franklin. He has brought up the conference scheduling imbalance for years. The Penn State coach even said the nine-game model arguably was "maybe the worst decision the Big Ten has ever made." But with it comes choices about non-conference scheduling.

"It's not going to look the same," Franklin said of scheduling comparisions between conferences. "We're already playing nine conference games. Where does it make sense? If you look, when the Big Ten first went to nine games, you could make the argument [it was] maybe the worst decision the Big Ten has ever made. Just mathematically, we were going to have more losses. We're going to beat each other up.

"Over the last two years, we've been more strategic about that. It's worked out pretty well. So 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.

"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. Scheduling non-conference games late in the year, which sometimes can almost be like a bye week late in 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."

Penn State isn't scheduled to play a non-conference Power 4 opponent until 2027, when the Nittany Lions begin a two-year series vs. Syracuse. Future non-conference opponents include Marshall, Delaware, Temple, Ball State and UMass. And until the Big Ten and SEC level their non-conference schedules, Penn State's strategy likely won't change.

"The good thing is, we all have the ability to build our programs the way we see best," Franklin said. "... 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. 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 the nine games was voted on. Everybody should either play a conference championship game or everybody shouldn't play a conference championship game. Everybody should be in a conference.

"I said that last year in 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. 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."

Penn State begins the 2025 season vs. Nevada on Aug. 30 at Beaver Stadium.