James Franklin discusses pitfalls, staying power of conference title games in 12-team CFP era: 'They're not going to give 'em up'

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Sitting a few hundred feet down the field at Lucas Oil Stadium from the Big Ten Championship banner he won with Penn State in 2016, James Franklin questioned the value — from a football standpoint — that playing a conference championship game brings in a 12-team College Football Playoff.

But even though he sees some potential futures where playing in, and losing, the Big Ten title game is worse than just not appearing in the game and resting up, Franklin isn’t suffering fools gladly about the finances underpinning the conference championship games. Potential football concerns, such as playing up to 17 games, will not overcome the revenue generated by the additional, primetime game.

“And I think one of the interesting things that’s a challenge with the College Football Playoff model is, in some ways, if you play in the Big Ten Championship game and you lose the Big Ten Championship game, that is a more challenging situation than not playing in the championship game and making the playoffs,” Franklin said. “And I don’t know if that is ideal but the reality is the conferences are making too much money from the conference championship game and they’re not going to give ’em up. But that’s one of those things that’s a little bit of a challenge and a curveball for the way the system is currently set up.”

Winning the conference title game does bear some distinct advantages, though: An automatic berth in the College Football Playoff and, in all likelihood for Big Ten teams, an automatic bye. And Franklin, discussing the issue on Wednesday, explained that the goal for Penn State is not only making the CFP, but hunting that bye for an advantageous run through the playoff.

But on the flip side of that coin, the loser of the Big Ten Championship game might still be a playoff entrant, but will be coming off a loss and then not get a bye in the tournament. That situation, Franklin expressed, is probably a worse way to enter the playoff than finishing third in the league, not playing the title game, and earning an at-large bid.

The path for an at-large playoff entrant, who didn’t play a conference title game, would mimic the deal that Notre Dame has managed to secure for itself in the CFP, Franklin said. The Irish aren’t capable of getting the first round bye in the tournament, but will not play in a conference championship so long as the Irish are independent.

For Notre Dame, it’s become a simple task: Be ranked high enough to get in, and ideally get a home playoff game.

It’s a pathway that Franklin might be envious of as he tries to suss out the best way for Penn State to potentially enter the playoff.

“It’s amazing, I’ve seen so many things about Notre Dame not having a bye as part of their requirements with the playoff,” Franklin said. “They do have a bye: They don’t have a conference championship game. That’s their bye. How do we get ourself in a position to have a bye? If not a bye, how do we put ourselves in the best position to have a home game in Beaver Stadium? Which would be an advantageous position with those elements at that time of the year.”

Franklin’s comments also echo those of one his Big Ten coaching peers, as Ohio State head coach Ryan Day on Tuesday expressed a similar sentiment about the challenge of keeping the conference title game amidst potentially 17-game schedules.

“Talking to Tony [Petitti], he brought this up before and what that means and should there be some conversation about what that means on that weekend?” Day said Tuesday at Lucas Oil Stadium, which will host the Big Ten Championship through 2028. “I won’t get into all the conversation that’s been had, but I think it’s a great question and a great point. I just think that we all know how important it is to win the conference and what that’s meant to college football and the tradition in college football and playing in this stadium and the electricity of that weekend and what it means to win the conference, especially having 18 teams now. It just means so much, and to take that away would be a challenge.”

And for all the pitfalls he identified with playing an extra conference game, the mission Franklin is on remains the same.

Whether he guides the Nittany Lions to the CFP as a conference champion or an at-large in some form, the goal is to get Penn State in the dance, and ready to make a run.

“So, that’s our focus: How do we get into the playoffs and then not only that, how do we put ourselves in the most advantageous system so we can make a run and a run that could be up to 17 games?” Franklin said.