The current format of the College Football Playoff has been heavily scrutinized from all sides for a plethora of reasons, including having too many teams, too few teams, too many autobids and too few autobids. Each conference, and Notre Dame, seemingly think they’re being screwed in some capacity.
James Franklin hasn’t shied away from sharing his thoughts on the matter, and at the Big Ten Media Days last week in Las Vegas, it was no different.
Franklin received heavy backlash from Notre Dame fans for his comments suggesting all FBS teams should join a conference during a joint presser with Marcus Freeman leading up to last year’s Orange Bowl. He once again reiterated that sentiment and made a call for uniformity across teams to aid the selection committee in their process.
“I’ve been saying it for a long time, I don’t care if we play eight games or nine, but everybody should be the same,” Franklin said. “Everybody should play a conference championship game or nobody should play a conference championship game. Everybody should be in a conference. And now that allows the committee to get together and compare apples to apples to pick the best 12 teams.”
Franklin also spoke about the significance of being able to host a College Football Playoff game on campus, which seeds 5-8 are rewarded with in the first round. Last year’s bracket pitted No. 6 Penn State against No. 11 SMU in Beaver Stadium, which resulted in a dominant 38-10 victory for the Nittany Lions.
“We worked really hard to have a home game. You know, that was great. Played really good against an ACC opponent,” Franklin said.
Nick Dawkins, who was Penn State’s starting center for the game, praised the impact the crowd was able to have on the Mustangs’ offense in 20-something degree weather.
“It was freezing and our fans did not care. It was loud and cold, which for the opposing team, very sorry but not sorry,” Dawkins said. “It’s just that element that we play in, it’s a competitive advantage when you’re able to play in games like that. They really are another element to opposing offenses.”
All four teams that hosted a home game won, coming by an average margin of 19.25 points. While Franklin and his players raved about the importance of being able to host postseason games at home venues, the coach also noted one area for improvement.
“I think having a home playoff game, I think nobody knows how to run a home game at Penn State better than Penn State, and it’s not our game,” Franklin said. “We don’t run it, the College Football Playoff runs it. So there was a lot of discussions about letting the schools have a ton more influence on how things go.”
The College Football Playoff controlled ticketing, including how the tickets were priced and how many were allotted to visiting teams. As a result, Mustang fans were awkwardly spaced in a vertical direction, directly touching Penn State’s student section. Additionally, SMU’s band was infamously stuck in the top corner of the upper deck above the north end zone, dealing with freezing winds. Additionally, an SMU hype video was played on the scoreboard before the game and select College Football Playoff videos were required to play throughout the game.
Ultimately, Franklin’s comments reflect a broader tension that continues to define the College Football Playoff era: a push for consistency in a system built on compromise. Whether it’s adjusting schedules, requiring conference affiliation, or allowing schools more control over home playoff environments, Franklin argues the path to the playoffs requires standardization.
