James Franklin jokes about welcoming UCLA to the Big Ten with 'cookies and rainbows and puppies'

The UCLA Bruins travel to Happy Valley to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday. For head coach James Franklin, this will be his first time going up against one of the new Big Ten schools this season.

Despite that, when Franklin was asked about how Penn State would welcome UCLA to the Big Ten, he made it clear that the Nittany Lions had already welcomed them over the summer. Now, it’s time to focus on playing the game.

CLICK HERE to go to PrizePicks and use code ON3 to receive a guaranteed $50 once you play $5 in lineups!

“Cookies, and rainbows and puppies and send them gift baskets,” James Franklin joked. “Yeah, we don’t think about that at all. This is the team we’re playing this week. We need to be prepared to beat them. We’re not welcoming anybody to the Big Ten. We’ve got a team on our schedule and our opponent that we play this week, and that’s what we’re doing.”

The game between UCLA and Penn State won’t be the Bruins’ first against a Big Ten school. However, it will be their first road game against a Big Ten opponent, making a major first road trip in the conference for UCLA. Still, Franklin insisted that the time for welcoming them was over the summer.

Save $30 on your first month of Fubo by CLICKING HERE NOW!

For a limited time, you can get your first month of Fubo for as low as $49.99. Stream ESPN, ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and 200+ top channels of live TV and sports without cable. (Participating plans only. Taxes and fees may apply.)

“All that welcoming stuff happened when the Big Ten had the thing in California where we all had to fly all the way out there to welcome them all. That’s when it happened,” Franklin said.

“What was that club called? It’s really nice. Do you guys remember where it was? The only thing that was scary was the road on the way there was like a mess. I’m talking about a total mess. Then, there’s signs saying, like the ground’s moving. I didn’t love that. Besides that, the welcoming stuff happened this summer and now it’s an opponent on our schedule, no different than any other opponent we play this year.”

While this is the first new team to the Big Ten that James Franklin and Penn State will see, it certainly won’t be the last. The Nittany Lions travel to Los Angeles to play USC in a week. Later in the year, they’ll also welcome Washington to Happy Valley for the White Out game.

This will be the seventh time that Penn State and UCLA have played in their history and the first time since 1968. The coaches for that game were Joe Paterno in his third season and Tommy Prothro. Penn State won that game but UCLA leads the all-time series with a record of 4-2.

Coming into the game, the Nittany Lions are looking to build on their early season success, having started the season 4-0. On the other side, UCLA is looking to snap a three-game losing streak in a hostile road environment.