Neil Rudel

Who can be excited — besides James Franklin — about a season-opening trifecta of Nevada, Florida International and Villanova?

A Blue-White game would be more competitive, but that doesn’t mean the Nittany Lions will pay a price for it, as long as they can play to their potential vs. the Big Ten and its two biggest challenges this year, Ohio State and Oregon, and avoid upsets.

The new 12-team playoff has changed scheduling mentalities with some of the bluebloods deemphasizing the non-conference lineup.

Penn State, though, has taken it to an extreme.

Though PSU fans are trained to gather in groups of 106,000 and are no doubt stoked by this season’s lofty expectations, their patronage is better rewarded by a Power-4 opponent such as what West Virginia and Auburn provided the last few years.

Franklin, though, whined through those weeks – even though the Nits took the four games by an average of three touchdowns — and has convinced Pat Kraft not to put the Lions in harm’s way.

The Big Ten playing nine conference games, compared with the SEC’s eight, further fuels the discussion.

In addition to the entertainment value of a non-conference opponent with a bigger profile than FIU — say, even Syracuse, which is set for two games in 2027-28 — it says here stronger early-season competition could benefit the team for when the tougher opponents arrive.

Kraft acknowledged it’s a fair topic but one with uncertain conclusions because the Big Ten and SEC have different approaches.

“You have to weigh all those factors,” he said. “We’ll keep looking at it. I just don’t know where scheduling is going to be in 2029. James and I work hand-in-hand in that process.”

Ohio State, Texas, LSU, Clemson, Notre Dame, Miami, Alabama and Florida State didn’t just dip their toes into the season with a huge non-conference challenge, they jumped in eyebrows deep.

The Buckeyes, LSU, Hurricanes and FSU started with a bang while Texas, Clemson and the Irish should be able to recover, learn from their losses and still be in the playoff hunt.

They’ll just have less margin for error — if, that is, they’re good enough.

Alabama is a different story as the Tide were exposed and have issues dating back to last year.

Kraft said he inherited most of the current schedule — other than Temple (2026-27), which he arranged as the Owls’ athletic director — but doesn’t mind it.

“At the end of the day, 10-11 wins (is what it takes),” he said. “How do you get there? We’re planning on 16 games. We don’t get preseason games. You’re playing in the Big Ten that is physical, that is intense, and we want to go to the playoff — win a Big 10 championship. You have to be healthy at the end of the year.”

This is a question that will be best answered by the end result of the season.

Ohio State probably gained an edge from not having to play in the Big Ten title game last year.

If the Lions lose in the playoff, a case can be made their non-conference schedule may have hurt them.

If they get to the national championship game and/or win it, maybe they were the fresher team because they didn’t break a sweat until Sept. 27.

We’ll have to wait and see.

Rudel can be reached at nrudel@altoonamirror.com.