James Franklin No Fan Of The CFB Playoff

What has three losses and an unfavorable opinion of the College Football Playoff committee? If you correctly guessed Penn State coach James Franklin, you win a free…

Well, actually, just like Franklin’s Nittany Lions, you don’t win anything.

A day after the College Football Playoff committee announced their initial Playoff rankings and Penn State was left out the Top 25, Franklin expressed his frustration.

"No, it's not fair," said Franklin about PSU being left out of the rankings. "Life is not fair."

Franklin’s displeasure stems from the fact that Wisconsin and Mississippi State, teams which also have three losses, were ranked, while Penn State -- which has arguably played a tougher schedule -- was left on the outside looking in.

"If you're not going to have a true Playoff system, the first thing you have to do 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?” Franklin asked after Wednesday’s practice. “How can you have some conferences that are playing nine conference games and others playing eight? It's very, very challenging.”

A more standardized schedule would seem to address some of Franklin’s issues with the committee.

“Everybody needs to play eight games, everybody needs to play nine games, everybody's playing 10 games, whatever it is. Just make it consistent across the board. I think that's one of the first things you have to do,” Franklin added.

"And then, standardize we're either all playing an FCS opponent, or no one is. But it just needs to be consistent,” said Franklin. “I think that's the first thing you need to do to allow people to sit in the room and decide who are the best football teams in college football.”

Drastic scheduling changes are unlikely to happen anytime soon, meaning, Franklin’s best chance to impress the selection committee would be to start winning more games. Penn State has an opportunity to do just that on Saturday when they visit Maryland.

You can bet the selection committee will be watching… some other game.

 

Follow along on Twitter: @OhioAF