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Penn State coach James Franklin calls into question fairness of the College Football Playoff system

Derek Peterson

By Derek Peterson

Published:

Suffice it to say James Franklin is not the biggest fan of the way the College Football Playoff handles its business.

The Playoff committee revealed its first rankings of the 2021 season Tuesday night, generating plenty of controversy and debate over its top 4 teams. Franklin, Penn State’s head coach, was asked about the current 4-team playoff format Wednesday night when meeting with the media and didn’t hold anything back.

“No, it’s not fair. Life is not fair,” Franklin began. “But you know, I’ve brought up some things in the past that I believe in. A lot of people (who) have been here for a while have heard this multiple times. But I think the first thing you have to do if you’re not going to have a true playoff system … is make sure everybody is playing under the same model. How can you have some conferences that play FCS opponents and other conferences that don’t? How can you have some conferences that are playing 9 conference games and others playing 8?

“Try to get a bunch of people in the room and they’re trying to decide who are the best players. Some of it is data, but some of it is just your personal preference, right? You know, how can you do that when not everybody’s playing the same number of games or in a situation?”

The CFP selection committee is a group of 13 chaired by Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta. There are three members, including Barta, on the committee with direct ties to Big Ten programs. Will Shields, a former Nebraska offensive lineman, and John Urschel, a former Penn State offensive lineman also serve.

Over his 11-year coaching career, Franklin has proven unafraid of sharing what’s on his mind, and he wasn’t done Wednesday.

“Everybody needs to play 8 (conference) games, everybody needs to play 9 conference games, or everybody needs to play 10 (conference) games,” he continued. “Whatever it is, just make it consistent across the board. I think that’s one of the first things you have to do. And then the same thing; standardize. We’re either all playing 1-AA, FCS opponent or no one is. But it just needs to be consistent. I think that’s the first thing you need to do to allow people to sit in a room and decide who are the best football teams in college football. If not, there’s always going to be complaints.”

 

Derek Peterson

Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.