Penn State's James Franklin is Frustrated With the Big Ten Again

The Big Ten's Championship Week schedule remains unclear, which James Franklin called a "concern."

Penn State coach James Franklin is pushing the Big Ten to get its plan together for the proposed "Championship Week," saying he's frustrated with the conference's lack of communication.

Franklin said after practice Wednesday that teams still don't know the locations of next week's proposed Big Ten crossover games. The conference announced in September that, in addition to the title game, teams from each division would play a companion slate of games as part of a Championship Week.

No sites were announced, but domed venues such as Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis (site of the title game) and Detroit's Ford Field were considered options. However, they were taken off the table, Franklin said, in favor of home sites.

The sticking point seems to be, which home sites. Because East Division teams are scheduled to play five conference road games in 2021, Franklin said the Big Ten initially decided to allow those teams to host the crossover games this year. That would prevent East teams from making five conference road trips in consecutive seasons.

"And then I heard today that may be changing, which I don't think is right," Franklin said. "And then on top of it, there's still a lot of stadiums where parents can travel, and it sure would be nice to be able to tell the parents so they can make plans to be able to get to games. I don’t think that’s right. So I think there’s some frustration about it.

"I did talk to some other coaches in the league, I did talk to [Penn State Athletic Director] Sandy [Barbour] about it. The fact that the game's next week and we still don't really know, and we were told one thing last week and now it's different, is a little bit of a concern."

The Big Ten title game between Ohio State and Northwestern will be played at noon Dec. 19 at Lucas Oil Stadium. The other six games, depending on how they're scheduled, could take place Friday or Saturday.

Regarding the Big Ten's decision to amend its qualifying rules and allow Ohio State to play in the title game, Franklin chose his words carefully.

"I have opinions that go all the way back to the year that we won the Big Ten championship," Franklin said, referencing the 2016 season when Penn State won the conference title and Ohio State went to the College Football Playoff. "But I do believe that it is the right thing to do to make sure that the best team in the Big Ten is in the Big Ten championship game on the East side and on the West side, especially if there are things that are outside of their control. I do believe that's the right thing to do for our conference."

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