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Before his Nittany Lions take on the Fighting Irish for a spot in the national title game, Penn State head coach James Franklin was blunt about Notre Dame not playing in a conference. Franklin, a proponent of the College Football Playoff expansion, believes every team should be in a conference, with everyone playing the same number of conference games.
Franklin differed from Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman during a joint press conference, despite seating next to him. “It should be consistent across college football,” Franklin explained. “This is no knock at [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 everybody should play the same number of conference games.”
Penn State played one more game than Notre Dame, which made the College Football Playoff as an at-large team with the No. 7 seed. Franklin’s point was that with more teams entering the playoff, every team should play the same number of games and belong to a conference. However, Notre Dame has been adamant about its independent status, which has been a part of its identity for decades. Other Fighting Irish teams play in the ACC, with which the football program has a scheduling agreement.
Franklin likes the eight-game conference schedule in the SEC, which is different from the nine-game schedule in the Big Ten before conference championship games are played. “I was not a math major at East Stroudsburg, but just the numbers are going to make things more challenging if you’re playing one more conference game,” Franklin said. “We need somebody that is looking at it from a big-picture perspective.”
The CFP selection process has been criticized in its first year of an expanded playoff, with teams like Alabama being left out. Franklin wants to see consistency in scheduling to make it easier for the selection committee to make decisions. “How do you put those people that are in that room to make a really important decision that impacts the landscape of college football, and they can’t compare apples to apples or oranges to oranges?” Franklin wondered. “I think that makes it very, very difficult.”
Freeman recognized the pride in Notre Dame’s independence, but also acknowledged the ability to rest and recover on conference championship weekend, a luxury only Notre Dame could afford before heading to the playoffs. “I’m a guy that just [thinks], ‘Tell us what we’re doing, and let’s go.’ And you move forward,” Freeman said. “I love where we’re at right now. [Notre Dame athletic director] Pete Bevacqua and our Notre Dame administration will continue to make decisions that are best for our program.”