Who can fix college football? One prominent coach backs Nick Saban

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. − Penn State football coach James Franklin was asked to offer his opinion on how to fix college football two days before his team plays its biggest game in years.

Franklin took a few minutes away from previewing his 12-2 Nittany Lions against Fiesta Bowl foe Boise State to talk bigger picture. The question came in reference to losing backup quarterback Beau Pribula to the transfer portal − with the hope of more playing time and big NIL money − right as this new College Football Playoff is taking off here in the quarterfinal round on New Year’s Eve in State Farm Stadium.

What can be done, the question went, to ‘incentivize playing for the team you’re on, as opposed to thinking about what’s going to happen next?’

Franklin said college football needs a commissioner to attack such issues.

And he’s got a name: retired Alabama legend Nick Saban.

‘We need somebody that’s waking up every single morning and going to bed every single night thinking about what’s in the best interest of college football,’ Franklin said during a Fiesta Bowl media day news conference.

‘Right now, I think that’s being done by the (league) commissioners, but whenever you have people (who) are making decisions and running college football, they’re going to be biased towards what’s best to their conference. That’s not in the best interest of college football and the student-athletes.’

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Franklin said he would propose getting rid of conference championship games − extra games which, he said, are mostly about producing revenue and unlevel the playing field.

He wants teams to play the same number of conference games, as well. Now, for example, the Big Ten plays nine league games each season; SEC teams only play eight.

‘When you have a (playoff) committee sitting in a room trying to compare apples to apples or oranges to oranges, it’s hard to do that when not everybody is playing under the same model,’ Franklin said. ‘Get rid of the conference championship game. That will shorten the season and help with the window a little bit.’

He also would like the regular season to start a week earlier.

‘If you can take some of the stress off of the academic calendar … again, God forbid we talk about academics, right? That used to be every conversation started with academics, and that’s becoming less and less. Maybe I’m old-school and maybe a traditionalist, but I still believe in the model.’

So who would help drive oversight and change in college football?

‘I think Nick Saban would be the obvious choice. I think if we made that decision … (Nick will probablycall me tonight and say, ‘Don’t do this.’),’ Franklin said.

‘But I think he’s the obvious choice, right? … That would be a very, very important step moving forward to come up with some solutions and do what’s best for our sport.’

Frank Bodani covers Penn State football for the York Daily Record and USA Today Network.