PSU's James Franklin Calls 9-Game Schedule 'The Worst Decision the Big Ten Ever Made'

Penn State's James Franklin is the newest Big Ten head coach to call out the lack of uniformity with the number of in-conference games in college football.

Franklin told reporters Tuesday that moving to a nine-game schedule was perhaps "the worst decision the Big Ten ever made." He was speaking more from the standpoint of the Big Ten giving its member schools a tougher path to a major bowl game and argued for creating a universal standard:

Ohio State's Ryan Day made similar remarks when throwing his support behind Big Ten commissioner Tony Pettiti's proposal to grant four automatic berths in the College Football each to the Big Ten and SEC.

"Until there's continuity between conferences, if you're in the Big Ten, it would make no sense to have anything other than a case to have four automatic qualifiers and an expanded pool of teams," Day said. "Because when you play nine conference games, it's not the same as someone who plays eight conference games. If you're going to be compared against that, it's just not the same."

Like Franklin, Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti wants to see every conference play the same number of games.

Cignetti also took a shot at the SEC in response to criticism over the Hoosiers canceling their home-and-home series with Virginia.

"Here's the bottom line: We picked up an extra home game, and we play nine conference games," he said. "The two best conferences in college football, any football guy that's objective will tell you, are the Big Ten and the SEC. Twelve of the 16 SEC teams play three G5 or an FCS team. Twelve of those teams play 36 games, 29 G5 games and seven FCS games, and one less conference game [than Big Ten teams].

"So, we figured we would just adopt SEC scheduling philosophy. Some people don't like it. I'm more focused in on those nine conference games."

While the SEC is weighing a move to nine conference games, nothing official has been announced in that regard.

As Franklin alluded to in his comments, staying at eight games might be an advantage for the SEC at this point.

But Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger reported in May that Big Ten athletic directors may not sign on to the SEC's proposed 16-team CFP model (five auto bids for conference champions and 11 at-larges) if the SEC doesn't adopt a nine-game conference slate.

Considering how much the influence in college sports is being increasingly split between the Big Ten and SEC, this is probably a glimpse into a future where each conference never turns down an opportunity to gain a competitive edge.