James Franklin is trying to tell us something. At least for now, we don’t know what, because he can’t quite pull the trigger.

“There’s a lot of things I wanted to say when I came here today,” Franklin said in his postgame press conference after losing to Ohio State on Nov. 2.

“It’s not appropriate to say them right now, so I’ll save them for another time.”

During last week’s Big Ten press conference before the conference championship game, Franklin praised opposing coach Dan Lanning of No. 1 ranked Oregon, adding, “It’s also a place with tremendous resources … and they have that Thing built to compete there.” the highest level.

“I have some pretty close relationships with Oregon, not just on the coaching staff but in other areas as well. “They are committed to winning at the highest level and have been for a number of years.”

This was perceived as Franklin falsely, or at least deceptively, shouting poverty. Especially since the NCAA released a report on funding, NIL money and total sports revenue for 2023-24 that indicates Penn State is in a more expensive area than Oregon.

In the report, Penn State’s NIL collective ranked 11th among FBS schools in NIL funds with $13,793,489 and Oregon ranked 20th with $10,623,807. Penn State, with a 106,000-seat stadium, is far ahead in ticket revenue, with an estimated $44 million to $25 million.

Under the impending deal between the House of Representatives and the NCAA, athletic departments will share revenue with athletes. According to the NCAA, Oregon ranks third and Penn State fourth in football player revenue sharing, although the difference is relatively small at $16.84 million to $16.83 million.

According to the report, Penn State generated about $53 million more in athletic department revenue than Oregon, but also has 29 varsity sports to Oregon’s 18.

Something is missing here. Especially since Franklin claims so

The hiring of university president Neeli Bendapudi in December 2021 and athletic director Pat Kraft seven months later, as well as the assumption of leadership of the board of trustees by Matt Schuyler and David Kleppinger, have created a consensus – Franklin likes that word – regarding commitment to football that did not exist before .

“We’ve had the kind of support from these people over the last year and a half that we haven’t had here,” Franklin said.

“So are there things that still need to be done? Yes. That’s what we’ll be saying for the rest of our time here. But we’re closer…not even close…we’re closer than we’ve been in my eleven years.”

Perhaps an unspoken element is Phil Knight, the Oregon graduate, Nike co-founder and organizer of the NIL collective in Oregon.

Penn State is one of hundreds of Nike schools, but Oregon is Nike University

Knight is reportedly worth $45 billion and has donated over $1 billion to the school, much of it to renovate the football stadium and build state-of-the-art facilities.

But how is it that Oregon ranks 20th in NIL fundraising with Knight so heavily involved?

Following National Signing Day last week, Oregon’s 2025 recruiting class was ranked No. 1 in the country by ESPN.

Oregon players call Knight “Uncle Phil.”

Na’eem Offord, a five-star defensive lineman who transferred from Ohio State to Oregon this cycle, told CBS Sports: “(Knights) played a big role, a huge, big role,” Offord told CBS Sports. “He’s actually waiting for me to get up there, he’s got a lot of stuff planned for me. He will help me make my shoe.

Franklin has a lot, but he doesn’t have a guy like that.

Last week I spoke to someone who deals with NIL professionally. He said Penn State’s stars — quarterback Drew Allar, running back Singleton, defensive end Abdul Carter — are doing well in the NIL market.

When it comes to compensation for the entire roster, he said, Penn State is well behind the people they’re trying to beat.

Many of these kids, he said, stay here because they just want to be at Penn State.

In that sense, Saturday’s Big Ten championship game was, of course, a skirmish in a larger conflict.

Franklin knows we don’t want to hear that, especially from him and his $8.5 million annual salary.

So maybe he’s waiting for the right moment to tell us what he thinks he’s dealing with.