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If you want something done, you have to do it yourself. Penn State head coach James Franklin took that phrase to heart when he delivered a passionate speech about the airport in State College, Pennsylvania. 

With the Big Ten expanding to include teams from California, Oregon and Washington, traditional conference teams have to travel much farther than they did in the past. 

That’s tough for a lot of schools in the Big Ten, which are generally located in small towns. That includes Penn State. 

As a graduate of Pennsylvania State University, I can promise you that the school is in the middle of NOWHERE. 

In fact, when James Franklin mentioned the airport in State College, PA (the “city” that surrounds the campus) it was genuinely the first time I’ve ever heard that such an airport even existed. 

Penn State head coach James Franklin complained about the size of the airport in State College, PA which might actually lead to changes.

Penn State head coach James Franklin complained about the size of the airport in State College, PA which might actually lead to changes.

(Matthew O’Haren/Imagn Images)

Evidently, it does, but it’s too small. Franklin bemoaned the fact that his team couldn’t fly out of the local airport to get to California, which is where the team plays this Saturday against USC. 

So, instead, they will take a bus to Harrisburg on Thursday and then fly to Los Angeles. 

Franklin then went into an impressive deep dive into runway sizes, plane sizes and other important aviation information. 

Franklin has a point here. It’s tough for many schools to travel across the country when coming from campuses located hours away from major cities. 

But there was likely no discussion about increasing the size of the State College airport (why would there be?) until the Penn State head coach complained about it. 

You just can’t have the Nittany Lions football team struggling to travel to important Big Ten games across the country. 

Nothing gets the government in a small town to act like the head football coach complaining. 

James Franklin has that politician vibe already, and you can see why. 

This is a carefully constructed press conference meant to push the local officials into action. Will it work? 

I’m betting that it will.