For much of the first 10 years of his tenure at Penn State, the knock on James Franklin was that the Nittany Lions could never get to the College Football Playoff. Then, in Year 11, Franklin finally broke through, though, with the help of an expanded 12-team CFP. Now, the Big Ten and SEC are joining forces to make it even easier for Franklin and the Nittany Lions to be a mainstay in college football’s postseason.
On Sunday, Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports reported that the two super conferences, the Big Ten and SEC, are building momentum to expand the CFP to 14 or 16 teams in the coming years. Dellenger detailed how those conferences executed a power play that won them authority over the CFP model last offseason and how they plan to exercise that power soon, not just to expand the CFP, but to ensure more of their teams will be participants.
Dellenger explained that if the format is approved for future seasons, it will likely feature as many as four automatic qualifier sports for both the SEC and the Big Ten. While ACC and Big 12 programs will bemoan those auto-qualifier spots, there is nothing they can do to stop the true power brokers who can threaten to break away to create their own postseason.
Setting aside for a minute the questions about whether further bloating a playoff after just a one-season sample size is a good idea (it’s not), it’s important for Nittany Lions fans to think about how this will affect Penn State.
At first glance, it appears to be all positive. A further expanded playoff with guaranteed spots for the Big Ten will make it unquestionably easier for Franklin to make it back to the CFP. But therein lies the problem, even at 12 teams, making the CFP feels like an expectation for Franklin. If the CFP has 16 spots and the Nittany Lions find a way to get left out, it could cost the long-time head coach his job.
Even if Franklin’s team is a consistent participant, fans will quickly tire of just making it to the CFP and will ask more and more about what Penn State does when it gets there. The Nittany Lions advanced to the CFP Semifinal this past season, but Franklin’s detractors still say he had an easy path, drawing SMU in the first round at Beaver Stadium and Mountain West Champion Boise State in the CFP quarterfinals at the Fiesta Bowl.
I fully expect Frankin to consistently trot out a top-12 team in the country year after year, but as the bar for entry into the CFP is lowered, the expectations of Penn State fans for the team’s head coach once he gets in, will raise and so will the pressure for a national title.