Penn State's James Franklin: Playoff, Big Ten Expansion 'Magnifies' Scheduling Strategy

Before playing a mid-season game against UMass, Franklin reiterated his goal of non-conference scheduling: Going undefeated.

Penn State coach James Franklin said Tuesday that a Big Ten football program is "buying out a ton of" signed non-conference game contracts as the Big Ten expands to 18 teams and builds more difficult in-conference football schedules. Franklin added that Big Ten and College Football Playoff expansions won't change Penn State's non-conference scheduling strategy and that the combination might magnify programs' decisions to reduce the number of marquee non-conference matchups.

"I would say there's a team in this conference specifically that's buying out of a ton of game contracts that are already signed to go in the complete opposite direction [of scheduling major non-conference series]," Franklin said at his weekly press conference. "No, I don't think it's changed. I would say you could even make the argument it's magnified, and that's why people are changing their schedules, because you look at who people are going to have to play just in our conference, it's going to be even more challenging than it's ever been."

The Big Ten recently released its five-year model of conference opponents to incorporate USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington. Penn State's 2024 football schedule includes games against three of those teams (USC, UCLA and Washington) along with Ohio State and Wisconsin. In addition, Penn State visits West Virginia for the second game of their home-and-home series that began this season.

Franklin often has described his non-conference scheduling strategy as one that prioritizes winning. He also has mentioned the inconsistencies between conferences, noting that the Big Ten plays nine conference games while the SEC plays eight and that many SEC teams schedule late November non-conference games, often against FCS teams. Penn State this week plays Massachusetts in its latest non-conference game since the 2014 season. The reason?

"You've got to do whatever you possibly can to give yourself a chance, number one, to be undefeated at the end of the season," Franklin said.

The Penn State coach did not name the team that he said was "buying out" game contracts. Four years ago, Michigan terminated a home-and-home series with UCLA scheduled for 2022 and '23. According to the Indianapolis Star, Indiana has withdrawn from two games in a planned three-game series with Louisville. Earlier this year, Ohio State canceled a two-game series with Washington, citing a "changing college football landscape." Ohio State announced the decision before Washington joined the Big Ten.

"I can't necessarily speak for what [other teams are] doing and why they're doing it and how they're doing it because I don't sit in those meetings," Franklin said. "But if I had to guess, I would say it's probably, I don't know if I'd describe it as a reaction, but a strategy."

Franklin has been clear about his scheduling strategy for years: He does not agree that the strength-of-schedule argument paves a better playoff path for more teams, at least in the four-team format.  For instance, had Penn State not been required to play a Power 5 non-conference game in 2016 (and subsequently lost to Pitt 42-39), it could have made a better playoff case at 11-1.

Brett McMurphy reported in May that the Big Ten was "strongly considering" eliminating its requirement that conference teams play at least one Power 5 non-conference opponent per year. Michigan has not played a Power 5 non-conference opponent in 2022 or '23, though McMurphy reported that the Big Ten offers scheduling "exemptions."

"Right now it's kind of undefeated or at the most one loss, and then on top of that, if you're not scheduling to be undefeated, you're scheduling to have the least amount of losses possible to give yourself a chance to be in the playoffs," Franklin said. "There's another team in this conference that has had a ton of success the last couple years, and again, I think it would follow the same argument."

In 2022, Penn State became the first Big Ten team to play at Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium, which opened in 1935. After the Lions defeated Auburn 41-12 to sweep the two-game series, the Penn State coach was asked whether he wanted to schedule more series like that one. "No," he said. "No."

"There's a reason that this is like one of the only games that's been scheduled in the history of the Big Ten," Franklin told reporters last year at Jordan-Hare Stadium. "All the data and all the analytics show you you've got to do whatever you can to win your conference."

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AllPennState is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on Twitter @MarkWogenrich. And consider subscribing (button's on the home page) for more great content across the SI.com network.