James Franklin emphasizes uniformity in the common fisheries policy – ‘Everyone should be at a conference’

DANIA BEACH, Fla. – While discussing the opportunity that awaits Penn State in the College Football Playoff, coach James Franklin said Wednesday that the matchup against Notre Dame is about “representing our schools and our conferences.”

Franklin caught himself and realized Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman was sitting just to his right.

“Or our conference, excuse me,” Franklin said.

Penn State will represent the Big Ten against FBS independent Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl on Thursday night (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) at Hard Rock Stadium.

The Nittany Lions reached the Big Ten championship game before earning a No. 6 seed in the inaugural 12-team CFP, while the Fighting Irish made the playoffs as an at-large, earning the No. 7 seed despite playing in a lesser game.

Franklin said he believes a greater CFP ultimately requires more uniformity around college football, including each team being part of a conference and playing the same number of league games. Notre Dame, one of three remaining FBS independents, sees its status as central to the school’s identity and over the years has resisted the odds to join the Big Ten and other conferences. The Fighting Irish compete in the ACC for most of their other major sports, and they have a scheduling agreement with the ACC in football.

“It should be consistent across college football,” Franklin said. “This is no knock on (Freeman) or Notre Dame, but I think everybody should be in a conference. I think everybody should play a conference championship game or nobody should play a conference championship game. I think everyone has to play the same number of conference games.”

Penn State reached the CFP by playing nine conference games as well as the Big Ten championship game against No. 1 Oregon, which defeated the Nittany Lions 45-37 on Dec. 7. while the SEC and ACC have stayed at eight conference games.

Franklin, who coached at Vanderbilt before Penn State, praised the SEC for staying at eight league games, which the league’s coaches wanted. The SEC has repeatedly considered going to nine league games during Franklin’s time in the Big Ten.

“I wasn’t a math major at East Stroudsburg, but just the numbers are going to make things more challenging if you play one more conference game,” he said.

Franklin also highlighted other areas of the sport that could be made more consistent, including starting the season a week earlier to ease the burden of playing more games with an expanded playoff. He reiterated his desire to appoint a college football commissioner unaffiliated with a school or conference, once again mentioning longtime coach and current ESPN analyst Nick Saban as a possibility along with former Washington and Boise State coach Chris Petersen, now a Fox college football analyst and Dave Clawson, who recently stepped down as Wake Forest’s coach.

“We need someone who looks at it from a big perspective,” Franklin said.

Freeman acknowledged that Notre Dame prides itself on its independence. He said the team is using the conference championship weekend, when they are guaranteed not to play, as another open week for recovery and other priorities.

Notre Dame ended the regular season Nov. 30 and did not play again until Dec. 20, when it hosted Indiana in a first-round CFP game. In helping devise the format for the 12-team CFP, former Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick agreed that if the Irish were selected, they would not be eligible to earn a bye to the quarterfinals.

Freeman noted that he doesn’t have a strong opinion on whether college football needs more uniformity.

“I’m a guy who just (thinks), ‘Tell us what we’re doing and let’s go and you’ll move on,'” Freeman said. “I love where we are right now. (Athletic director) Pete Bevacqua and our Notre Dame administration will continue to make decisions that are best for our program.”

Franklin said his desire for greater consistency stems from the CFP selection process and committee members’ difficulty in sorting through teams with vastly different paths and profiles and determining strength of schedule and other factors.

“How do you put the people who are in that room to make a really important decision that affects the landscape of college football and they can’t compare apples to apples or oranges to oranges?” Franklin said. “I think that makes it very, very difficult.”