Penn State coach James Franklin talks with reporters during Big Ten media days on Wednesday in Indianapolis.
Doug McSchooler | AP photo
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The start of James Franklin’s 11th season as Penn State coach saw him share the stage with schools from California on Wednesday at Big Ten media days.
The latest additions to the increasingly inaccurately named Big Ten have arrived from the Pac-12. The big reminder came Wednesday, the second of an expanded three-day media event in Indianapolis, which had USC’s Lincoln Riley and UCLA’s DeShaun Foster take the podium for questions before Franklin.
The other two newcomers, Oregon’s Dan Lanning and first-year Washington coach Jedd Fisch, will speak on Thursday.
Franklin and the Nittany Lions will host the Bruins in October before traveling out to Los Angeles a week later to face the Trojans. The national runner-up Huskies will visit Happy Valley for the annual White-Out in November.
“I want to welcome the four new teams to our conference — what an exciting time in college football, what an exciting time for the Big Ten,” Franklin said during his opening remarks from Lucas Oil Stadium. “Going to create some really, really exciting matchups that I think our fans are going to enjoy, but also obviously going to create some challenges as well.”
That midseason trip out to California in particular looms large, as it opens a four-game stretch against USC and Wisconsin on the road before hosting Big Ten favorite Ohio State and Washington right afterward.
“Some of those challenges are magnified for Penn State, being one of the most northeast schools without an international airport,” Franklin said. “… We spent a ton of time talking to NFL organizations as well as college programs that have done East Coast to West Coast travel during the season and what are the best practices for that. So put a lot of time into that, and we’re excited about those opportunities.”
The expansion to 18 teams also meant dissolving the divisional split in the conference, which means the Lions won’t be facing former mainstay opponents, Michigan, Michigan State, Rutgers and Indiana this season.
Penn State’s other three road games are the non-conference opener at West Virginia as well as November trips to Purdue and Minnesota. According to bookies.com, the Lions have to travel the sixth-most miles out of Big Ten teams this season at 8,602, behind the four West Coast teams and Rutgers.
That’s nothing compared to UCLA, which topped the list at 22,048 miles of travel for the regular season.
And the Bruins’ first conference road game as a member of the Big Ten happens to be at Beaver Stadium.
“That’s why we’re excited for the Big Ten, just getting opportunities to play in a lot of stadiums that you usually wouldn’t get an opportunity to,” said Foster, a former star running back who took the reins at his alma mater from Chip Kelly. “So I know our players are excited to do that.
“Once we get in that week, that’s when we’ll really lock in. Until then, we’re just excited to be in the Big Ten.”
Foster, in his first year as a head coach at any level, was generally soft-spoken and had an awkward moment early on when he abruptly ended his opening statement in under 30 seconds.
His crosstown counterpart was more verbose.
“It’s an honor to be here today, an honor to be welcomed into the Big Ten,” said Riley, no stranger to the biggest stages while leading Oklahoma and now USC. “It’s a historic day and year. I know this has been an idea that’s been talked about for a long time, been discussed, and now I think we’re all glad that it’s finally here.”
Riley and the Trojans weren’t able to make the College Football Playoff with Heisman winner and No. 1 overall draft pick Caleb Williams at quarterback, dragged down by a defense that couldn’t get off the field.
To solve that, Riley hired former Penn State starting cornerback D’Anton Lynn as his new defensive coordinator, swiping him off the rival Bruins’ staff.
Riley spent little time discussing the extra mileage — which this year includes road trips to Michigan, Minnesota and Maryland — saying it won’t be a factor.
The dean of conference coaches, though, believes it will be a hurdle for the Trojans.
“I think the bigger issue is going to be travel for them,” Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz told the Associated Press. “But if we were playing a West Coast team, I’d rather play them in November when its rotten and miserable.”