Joe Paterno said Penn State U. is still considered “the new people on the block” in the Big Ten.

But that didn’t stop the coach from having an opinion about the possibility of Big Ten expansion.

With Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany’s 12- to 18-month timetable — set in December — still in place, Paterno said he would like to see the Big Ten expand to 14 teams.

“I’ve been pushing that for several years and we haven’t really gotten much response,” Paterno said before Saturday’s Blue-White game. “I would like us to get two teams from the East and one team from the West so we would be at 14.”

Though Paterno said his thoughts may not be shared by athletic directors and university presidents, he said he’d be surprised if the Big Ten didn’t come up with an expansion plan.

Penn State athletic director Tim Curley said he understands the landscape of college football may soon change, but right now, he’s taking a step back and just assessing what might happen.

“I can’t predict when or if anything will happen,” Curley said during Saturday’s Blue-White game. “There is really no timeframe we are aware of.”

With Paterno supporting the notion of expansion — something the coach said he feels is necessary for Penn State to keep up with other conferences — keeping a close eye on what the other conferences decide will be instrumental.

“The people that I talk to in the Big Ten, particularly some of the coaches and the athletic directors, [say] the Pac-10 is gonna go,” Paterno said before Saturday’s scrimmage. “My gut feeling is the Pac-10 is going to expand. And they’re gonna take a couple good football teams in there.”

Paterno said Colorado, Texas, Texas A&M and possibly Boise State are all teams he thinks could join the Pac-10.

While Curley said a possible Pac-10 expansion wouldn’t necessarily force the Big Ten’s hand to do the same, finding the right number of teams remains a top priority.

Paterno said he continues to preach about Big Ten expansion because he’s tired of the conference’s teams sitting at home come the end of November while the other conferences continue play.

But unlike years past, Paterno said this year conversations about expansion are at least occurring.

“At least they’re talking about it,” Paterno said. “In all fairness to them, I talked this over with the Big Ten coaches a couple times about the Big Ten meetings, and we’re gonna meet in May and I think something will come up there.”

Until the meeting, Curley said there’s not much else to be said about the conference’s future.

But with a head coach adamant about keeping up with the potential changes in college football, Curley said he certainly takes Paterno’s thoughts into consideration.

“He’s been at it a long time, and he’s won a lot of games and so of course we care about what he thinks,” Curley said. “But again, this is still in the study phase and right now it is just a bunch of hypotheticals.”