James Franklin is a good college football coach on paper. Just look at his overall stats at Penn State as their head coach for the past 11 years: 101-41 overall. Bowl appearances in all but one of his years (and that year happened to be 2020). His teams have finished top-10 in the AP poll four times.

Notre Dame is playing for a national title for the first time in 12 seasons, and Penn State has come up short yet again in a big-time matchup.

The Big Ten plays nine conference games in football. So does the Big 12. The Southeastern Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference are among those playing eight-game league schedules.