Ad Disclosure
James Franklin reacts to B1G adding Oregon, Washington
By Andrew Olson
Published:
James Franklin sees positives and negatives to the B1G becoming an 18-member conference. The Penn State head coach was asked for his thoughts to Oregon and Washington joining the Big Ten starting in the 2024-25 season.
Franklin called the additions a win for the Pac-12 schools that had already joined the Big Ten, but worried about college athletics losing its regional feel.
“I do think obviously with what you see that’s going on in college football right now, it’s not shocking that these things are happening,” Franklin told reporters. “It’s somewhat sad in some ways. Not that these people are being added to our conference, because I think obviously there’s a lot of strategy that goes into that.
“But you know, I do think there’s some challenges that come along with it. It’s very different for most of the people in this room. It’s very different than the college football that we all grew up with, and not really college football, but college athletics, where it was pretty regional. I do think it’s a huge win for USC and UCLA from a travel perspective. I think it’s a huge win for them.”
Penn State was scheduled to host USC in 2024 and UCLA in 2025, while traveling to USC in 2025. The B1G schedules, though, will be modified now that the conference will have 18 members.
A former Florida beat reporter, Andrew writes for the Saturday Tradition News Desk.