CHICAGO -- Five years ago at Big Ten media days the Penn State football program was in shambles.
At the time, the NCAA sanctions were just imposed as fallout from the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. The sanctions were meant to cripple the program, but here the Nittany Lions are five years later, back in Chicago fresh off a Big Ten title and looking to repeat.
It's a remarkable on-field rebound that conference commissioner Jim Delany said was "maybe the most difficult set of circumstances I've ever been asked to participate in." Still, Delany applauded Penn State for the university's off-field progress in the past five years.
"It's been a difficult, difficult road for the institution, for the department, for the friends and for the Paterno family," Delany said Monday afternoon during his annual address. "So I would say, in totality, it's maybe the most difficult set of circumstances I've ever been asked to participate in and assist with. Having said that, I can look anybody in the eye and salute Penn State for the progress they've made."
Penn State's return in the post-sanction era has been a talking point at conference media days every year, and certainly this season, given all that transpired on the field last year, is no different. James Franklin, athletic director Sandy Barbour and athletes Jason Cabinda, Marcus Allen and Mike Gesicki all arrived in Chicago on Monday and are set to meet with the media on Tuesday where the program's return surely will be a talking point.
DONE DEAL
It's been rumored for a year, but Delany confirmed Monday afternoon that new six-year TV deals for Big Ten football with ESPN and FOX as well as a TV deal with CBS for basketball.
"We really have labored in bringing our agreements to maturity," Delany said. "It's been very interesting, because if you go back, I guess, just 11 years, we had all of our rights under one umbrella, the ESPN umbrella. And with a dozen or so games with CBS."
"The management of the scheduling and the selection process was pretty straightforward," he continued. "But when you add the Big Ten Network and then you add Fox and you add ESPN and CBS, in basketball you have four important partners, in football you have three. And the selection process on the content is, I wouldn't say tricky, but sensitive. And so as you move through discussions to achieve an agreement, any change in one area requires you to go back to others. And so it's really just the elongation of getting the T's crossed and the I's dotted that has taken longer than we had anticipated."
The new television contracts, which were first reported 13 months ago by Sports Business Journal, are reported to pay the conference $2.64 billion.
DIMMING THE LIGHTS
Going along with those new TV contracts has been pushback regarding Friday night football games. Last fall Delany said he thought it was "worthwhile to dip our toe in the water" with Friday night primetime games, but the conference's coaches and fans certainly haven't been happy about it.
"It's fair to say there's been pushback," Delany said. "It led us to open up even more communication with the high school directors. We do have some, what I would describe as non-Labor Day Fridays. We have two of them. We've been doing Labor Day Friday for a number of years, probably since the middle of the decade, maybe around 2006 or so. That never really created a lot of controversy. And, we actually thought that with, I think, eight of the 10 FBS conferences telecasting a little bit on Friday that that would be okay. But we did get pushback."
Delany said in the future the Friday games will likely be selected in October.
In April, two Friday games that were scheduled for Northwestern, both in October, were switched to Saturday after Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald voiced displeasure with the Friday games.
Stepping on the toes of high school football games is part of the argument, while the TV deals could give the Big Ten more exposure as opposed to being one of the other games on any given Saturday. Still, trying to get stadiums full and recruits in attendance on Friday night could be an uphill battle.
"I think that's a special night," said Indiana head coach Tom Allen, who was a high school coach for 15 years. "I don't like playing games on Friday night. I think it's high school night. It's not like it's my decision. I'm one of those guys who will just not not tell you what I believe. ... I'd like to keep that night special for high school football."
Franklin spoke at length in the past about his desire not to play Friday night games, and this season the Lions of course aren't part of the Friday lineup.
The Big Ten's six games scheduled for Friday night this season:
•Washington at Rutgers on Sept. 1
•Utah State at Wisconsin on Sept. 1
•Ohio at Purdue on Sept. 8
•Illinois at South Florida on Sept. 15
•Nebraska at Illinois on Sept. 29
•Iowa at Nebraska on Nov. 24
QUICK HITS
•The Nittany Lions' run to a conference crown last season will be featured as part of a special TV program on the Big Ten Network, said Big Ten Network president Mark Silverman.
"We're going to be doing a Big Ten Elite on the Penn State football team from this past year that made a great run to the Rose Bowl. And that will be airing later in the fall at a time to be announced," he said.
Here's a quick look at what is to come:
Earning a B1G Elite show isn't easy – just ask @PennStateFball. Big Ten Elite: 2016 Penn St. Football debuts 9/22. pic.twitter.com/ZMP7iTqdtL
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) July 24, 2017
•Delany on the depth of the Big Ten: "We have good depth, good coaches, great players, and each year is hard to predict, each year writes its own story. So I'm always reluctant to be overconfident, but I think what we have in place in terms of coach leaders and players, venues, television, all conspire together to give us a great offering to college sports. College football has never been healthier, but it's also never been more fragile. We have health and safety issues. We have litigation issues. So I'm not wanting to say we don't have challenges, because we certainly do."
•The conference's policy of not scheduling FCS opponents is changing, Delany said.
"We had adopted a policy of no FCS for a variety of reasons, including to enhance television and to strengthen packages for season ticket holders and also to enhance television product, and also to impress the college football playoff committee," he said.
"Now, after watching things play out over the last three years, we noted that we were the only conference to go totally in that direction. We have never really gotten there because we had long existing contracts. When we went to nine games, we did not anticipate the problems that some of our skills would have in years that they only had four conference games -- it was very difficult for them to get three FBS opponents on to their schedules if they were looking for seven home games. So, we have modified it."
•Monday afternoon the Big Ten announced their preseason conference honorees. As expected, Saquon Barkley and Trace McSorley were among the 10 selections.
The Big Ten's preseason honorees include:
•Tegray Scales, Sr., LB, IND
•J.T. Barrett, Sr., QB, OSU
•Tyquan Lewis, Sr., DE, OSU
•Barkley, Jr., RB, PSU
•McSorley, Sr., QB, PSU
•Josey Jewell, Sr., LB, IOWA
•Godwin Igwebuike, Sr., S, NU
•Justin Jackson, Sr., RB, NU
•Jack Cichy, Sr., LB, WIS
•Troy Fumagalli, Sr., TE, WIS