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Franklin's game-week routine, which dif- fers from that of his predecessors in that it calls for light practices on Sunday, with Monday being an o> day. Franklin said he tried to have the Croke Park Classic moved up two days but was rebu>ed. As a result, the Nittany Lions will likely be dealing with a bit of jet lag as they begin preparing for their home opener against Akron on Sept. 6. Given that Penn State's depth is scant and its margin for error razor-thin this season, every hurdle seems a little bit higher than it otherwise might, every inconvenience a bit more irksome. While the Nittany Lions aren't ex- actly going to be late for their matchup with the Zips, they aren't going to be quite as prepared as they would be if they were launching their season in the U.S. "It's like playing a West Coast game in the NFL on a Monday night, which the fans love and the coaches hate," Franklin said. "The di>erence is, in the NFL, those guys have more days o> and they don't have school. … In the NFL, when they have an extra day o>, they spend the entire day sleeping. Our guys won't. They're going to be in calculus." And yet, by opening in Ireland, Penn State players are going to get a history lesson that they wouldn't receive if, instead of Croke Park, they were spending the semester's erent than that of his fellow visitors. For many fans, this may be the trip of a lifetime. But for the Nittany Lions themselves? They probably won't be needing their passports again for a while. ■ >> No more Leaders. No more Legends. It took three years and the addition of two new schools, but the Big Ten has scrapped its previous divisional alignment with its grandiose names in favor of a more conventional, less mockable split. From here on out, the league will field East and West divisions, with Penn State joined by Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, Maryland and Rutgers in the former. Seems simple enough, but of course it's not. The emphasis on geographical bal- ance has left the East overloaded and thus has cleared the field for Nebraska, Wisconsin and perhaps Iowa to spar annually for the West Division crown. Michigan State reportedly wanted to be included in the West in order to boost its presence in the Chicago area. But league officials didn't want to separate the Spartans from their great in-state rival Michigan, so into the East they went, where they will cause trouble not only for the Wolverines but for the league's two OPPOSITION RESEARCH New season brings new challenges for Nittany Lions IT'S MILLER TIME Senior quarter- back Braxton Miller figures to keep the Buck- eyes in con- tention for the Big Ten's East Di- vision crown and a spot in the in- augural College Football Playoff. | John Beale

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