James Franklin made it clear that he meant no disrespect to Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame when he called for all college football teams to be in a conference but he also didn’t shy away from how he feels.
Notre Dame is the only major college football program standing that’s not in a conference.
For Franklin, this is a problem because it createst inconsistencies in the college football schedule.
This is why Thursday night’s Orange Bowl/College Football Playoff Semifinal between Penn State and Notre Dame will be the 16th game Penn State has played and the 15th for Notre Dame. Penn State played in the Big Ten Championship Game before the playoff and Notre Dame got extra rest.
WHAT FRANKLIN SAID
Photo by Matt Lynch, Nittany Sports Now: James Franklin
‘”I think it should be consistent across college football. I think, again, this is no knock on coach (Freeman) or Notre Dame, but I think everybody should be in a conference. I think everyone should play a conference championship game or no one should play a conference championship game. I think everybody should play the same number of conference games. I was a head coach in the SEC. I’ve been a head coach in the Big Ten. I was in the SEC when the whole conversation was whether to go to eight or nine conference games. We voted, all the coaches voted against going to nine games, the commissioner agreed and kept it at eight. I think it was one of the better decisions the SEC made. The Big Ten went to nine games. 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. So I just think things need to be consistent across college football. I think we need to look at the calendar. Should we open up a week earlier in the season to take some of the pressures off the end of the season? I think there’s just a ton of things that need to be discussed and looked at, and I think we need to do it with people that do not feel the pressure from their university or their conference.”
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.FREEMAN DOESN’T NECESSAIRLY AGREE
NEW ORLEANS, LA – JANUARY 02: Head Coach Marcus Freeman of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates after the Notre Dame Fighting Irish versus Georgia Bulldogs College Football Playoff Quarterfinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl on January 2, 2025, at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, LA. (Photo by Jeffrey Vest/Icon Sportswire)
James Franklin said these words right next to Freeman since it was part of a joint presser between the two coaches, and although Freeman didn’t argue with Franklin, his answer on the topic was quite different.
“I view (being an independant) as a pro , and we’ll continue to look at it that way until something changes,” Freeman said. “We get to play coast-to-coast. You play multiple different teams from multiple different conferences. You started off the season in College Station (at Texas A&M). You ended the season in L.A. (at USC) and in New York twice (against Army and Navy). And so we get to really view our program as global in terms of a national program, in terms of how we play and the audience we play in front of.”
No. 6 Penn State takes on No. 7 Notre Dame at 7:30 on ESPN Thursday with a trip to the national title game on the line.
