DANIA BEACH, Fla. — The Big Ten plays nine conference games in football. So does the Big 12. The Atlantic Coast Conference and the Southeastern Conference are among those playing eight-game league schedules. The Mountain West played seven during the most recent regular season. Notre Dame doesn't have even have a league.
Enough, Penn State coach James Franklin said.
Franklin — who raised some eyebrows last month when he said Nick Saban should become commissioner of college football, a job that doesn't technically exist and an idea that the retired Alabama coach didn't seem to like very much — was at it again Wednesday, saying on the eve of his team's matchup with Notre Dame in a national semifinal at the Orange Bowl that major college football needs uniformity.
"I know a lot of times when coaches talk like this, people roll their eyes," Franklin said. "But I think when every decision that we make is based on finances, then we're not making great decisions that's in the student-athlete and the game of football's best interest. ... I think it should be consistent across college football."
Franklin — who was seated next to Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman as he spoke in the final news conference previewing their College Football Playoff matchup Thursday night in Miami Gardens — is not new to offering big-picture solutions to problems facing college football. He also made clear he wasn't knocking Notre Dame, which views not being in a conference for football as a strength; its status as the country's most powerful independent would seem to back that up.
"I think everybody should play a conference championship game or no one should play a conference championship game," Franklin said. "I think everybody should play the same number of conference games. ... The Big Ten went to nine games, and 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."
Among Franklin's other ideas are looking at starting the season a week earlier to help alleviate end-of-year pressures (especially for schools that go deep into the CFP), and he reiterated the idea of having someone — Saban, former Boise State and Washington coach Chris Petersen and former Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson would be atop his list of candidates — overseeing the game.
The notion of a commissioner — Saban in particular — drew support from Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin (one of Saban's former assistants) earlier this month as well.
"I can't imagine there being a better person that genuinely has the best interest for the game and the kids," Kiffin said. "He always has. He's always been old school that way. There couldn't be a better person than him to do it."
In the NIL era, with an expanded playoff now in place and with the season longer than ever for some teams — the teams in the CFP title game will be playing either their 16th or 17th games of the 2024 schedule — it only makes sense for changes to keep coming.
"But it doesn't matter who the commissioner is, you have to give the guy power," Duke coach Manny Diaz said. "And right now the power is with the leagues. And if everybody wants to get in the sandbox and play nice and let someone be in charge of it, that would be best thing. Right now no one is showing that they're willing to let somebody create consensus, and I think that's what's hurting our game."
Franklin doesn't have all the answers. But he, like many coaches, has a ton of questions at what seems to be a time of transformation for the college game.
"I think there's just a ton of things that need to be discussed and looked at," Franklin said. "And I think we need to do it with people that do not feel the pressure from their university or their conference."