Matt Freed, Post-Gazette Penn State football coach Joe Paterno wishes the Big Ten would bring back the off week. Click photo for larger image. Related coverage: Pitt Football Media Day: Dickerson is changing on the fly to linebacker

One year after the Big Ten Conference waved goodbye to its bye week with the addition of a 12th game, Penn State coach Joe Paterno said he would welcome it back.

He's not the only one.

Commissioner Jim Delany said the league's 11 coaches are unanimously in favor of having an open date in their regular-season schedules.

But Delany said the coaches are split on whether the open week carries enough credence to extend the season past Thanksgiving.

The latter list doesn't include Paterno, who complained two years ago when the NCAA board of directors, consisting of a panel of 11 Division I-A presidents, voted 8-2 with one abstention to add a 12th game.

That decision essentially wiped out a midseason break that Paterno and his players had for many years.

"I think asking kids to play 12 straight games is wrong," he said. "You look at us, we're in the middle of summer school. Some schools don't have it -- they have all their preseason practices before school starts. We start school the Monday before we play our first football game.

"We played 11 [regular-season] games [in 2005] with an open date, and now we're playing 12 games without an open date. I think it's tough. I know a lot of people, including the president [Myles Brand] of the NCAA, will say, 'What are you going to do?'

"Well, there's a lot of things you can do in that open week. Give the [kids] a couple of days off ... do a lot of different things. Just give them a chance to get away from football."

Teams in other power conferences -- the SEC, ACC, Big East, Big 12 and Pac-10 -- have open weeks built into their schedules.

The Big Ten traditionally ends its regular season the weekend before Thanksgiving. Penn State ends this season on Nov. 17 at Michigan State.

For Big Ten teams to begin practicing a week earlier at the start of the season -- and incorporate an off week -- it would require a rule change by Brand and the NCAA.

"Myles Brand made the statement, which was ridiculous, that the only reason we wanted the week off is so we could have another week of practice," Paterno said. "That really irritated me because I think the kids need the time to get caught up with their studies and everything else."

Penn State quarterback Anthony Morelli believes an open week would be beneficial this season.

The Nittany Lions play one of their toughest home schedules ever, with five bowl teams from 2006 -- Notre Dame, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Purdue.

And they have another key early season September showdown with a sixth bowl participant, tackling Michigan on the road.

"It was tough not having the week off in the schedule last year," Morelli said. "We had to get used to it pretty fast. It took awhile. It wasn't easy."

Michigan coach Lloyd Carr offered his support for an open week, which could extend the Big Ten's regular season into early December.

However, Ohio State coach Jim Tressel and Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said their teams prefer to wrap up the schedules before Thanksgiving so they can spend the holiday with their families.

Paterno hopes the open week eventually returns to each Big Ten team's schedule.

"That's the only thing I feel strongly about," he said. "Whether we have a playoff, or what, that's up to some other people. Whatever they do, they'll do. But we can't have a lot of people that don't understand how much pressure is on football players during the season."