I'm going to do the same thing this week as last and try to hit on some of the immediate takeaways from Penn State's 45-14 win on Saturday. Again, if you have any questions here for things that I don't touch on, please post so I can address them if possible.
1) I'm going to start with tight end Mike Gesicki.
No one asked Franklin about him after the game, as the head coach has previously refused to comment on injuries, but clearly he went down in the second quarter and wasn't seen again in the game. He finished with three receptions for 19 yards.
He did not appear on the sideline in the second half, from what I could tell, either. If I had to speculate, his reaction on the field suggested something in his midsection - maybe a rib issue. But, again, I don't know. I just wanted to address the fact that James Franklin did not have a comment on the injury after the game.
2) Speaking of injury, Franklin was also asked about a possible rotation between Will Fries and Chasz Wright at right tackle. To paraphrase, he said that the bumps and bruises of college football are simply a reality that you have to deal with, and the team will be better off for it as a result with the younger guy gaining some valuable experience.
Clearly, though, Penn State's offensive line has some issues right now with injuries and the end result, be it because of that disjointedness or simply lackluster play, is having an impact. Additionally, Andrew Nelson was not in uniform for the game after leaving the Iowa game early due to what appeared to be an injury. He also did not appear at the team's midweek partially opened practice.
"I think you'd always like to settle on one group and one guy, but the game of football doesn't work like that. You're going to have bumps, you're going to have bruises, and it's the next man in mentality. The next guy has gotta go in and do a really good job. I think long term, it's going to help us, but I think you'd love to go all season with the same five starters on the offensive line," said Franklin. "I have heard of some teams that have done that. I've never been a part of it in my 23 years where you have the same five offensive linemen play all year long. So we're just going to keep developing those guys and keep getting them ready."
The Nittany Lions allowed five sacks and 11 tackles for loss during the game. More likely, that sack number could have been higher.
3) Saquon Barkley, James Franklin, you name it, the Nittany Lions are not biting on the Heisman talk.
It's going to be a strange dance through the rest of the season because Penn State, the program itself, has a web site from the marketing department campaigning for Barkley's Heisman. And yet, when asked by reporter David Jones about the halfback pass Barkley completed to DaeSean Hamilton and the implications in play calling to set up a Heisman highlight reel, Franklin wasn't biting.
"For us, we are big believers that with group and team success comes individual success," said Franklin.
Barkley echoed the sentiment.
"The kickoff return, I was excited to start the game off right. The passing touchdown, I was completely nervous because you can ask my teammates, that play didn't go too well in practice. I gotta thank JoeMo for trusting me to make that pass and DaeSean for making the catch and finding a way to get into the end zone. I feel like I've said it so many times, but I don't care about the Heisman award. Obviously I care about it because I'm a competitor and I want to be the best and I would love try to win it, but that's not my focus."
4) Field goals.
The nightmare season for Tyler Davis continued Saturday as he missed two of his three field goal attempts, including a 21-yarder in the third quarter.
"Obviously we gotta get the field goal situation cleaned up," said Franklin. "That's unacceptable. I'm not pleased with that at all. I don't want this to come off the wrong way, we are going to enjoy wins around here, but there's still some things that we have to be honest with ourselves and things that we gotta get cleaned up."
5) And the running game was the other Franklin stressed as needing to be cleaned up following the game.
Certainly, the results on the afternoon spoke volumes as to why. Penn State finished with 39 yards on the ground
"Offensively, obviously everybody's game plan is to stop Saquon Barkley in the run game," said Franklin. "We have to get better in that area, but I love the fact that we have so many different guys that can hurt you like DaeSean Hamilton and a number of guys that can go out there and make plays on the perimeter. So we gotta get the running game cleaned up.
"We gotta be better, there's no doubt about it, but that's another kind of example of why we said we also wanted to use Saquon Barkley as the kickoff returner because it's a play that we know that we can get the ball into his hands in space and obviously it paid off for us today."
Bonus) I was looking around on the sideline through the course of the game, and it looked like Ellis Brooks was nicked up, with his right arm wrapped up in what appeared to be a cast.
Bonus 2) Obviously, lots of chatter postgame on DaeSean Hamilton's big day. I don't want to ignore it here, but Tim Owen will have more for you guys on his new place in Penn State history.
1) I'm going to start with tight end Mike Gesicki.
No one asked Franklin about him after the game, as the head coach has previously refused to comment on injuries, but clearly he went down in the second quarter and wasn't seen again in the game. He finished with three receptions for 19 yards.
He did not appear on the sideline in the second half, from what I could tell, either. If I had to speculate, his reaction on the field suggested something in his midsection - maybe a rib issue. But, again, I don't know. I just wanted to address the fact that James Franklin did not have a comment on the injury after the game.
2) Speaking of injury, Franklin was also asked about a possible rotation between Will Fries and Chasz Wright at right tackle. To paraphrase, he said that the bumps and bruises of college football are simply a reality that you have to deal with, and the team will be better off for it as a result with the younger guy gaining some valuable experience.
Clearly, though, Penn State's offensive line has some issues right now with injuries and the end result, be it because of that disjointedness or simply lackluster play, is having an impact. Additionally, Andrew Nelson was not in uniform for the game after leaving the Iowa game early due to what appeared to be an injury. He also did not appear at the team's midweek partially opened practice.
"I think you'd always like to settle on one group and one guy, but the game of football doesn't work like that. You're going to have bumps, you're going to have bruises, and it's the next man in mentality. The next guy has gotta go in and do a really good job. I think long term, it's going to help us, but I think you'd love to go all season with the same five starters on the offensive line," said Franklin. "I have heard of some teams that have done that. I've never been a part of it in my 23 years where you have the same five offensive linemen play all year long. So we're just going to keep developing those guys and keep getting them ready."
The Nittany Lions allowed five sacks and 11 tackles for loss during the game. More likely, that sack number could have been higher.
3) Saquon Barkley, James Franklin, you name it, the Nittany Lions are not biting on the Heisman talk.
It's going to be a strange dance through the rest of the season because Penn State, the program itself, has a web site from the marketing department campaigning for Barkley's Heisman. And yet, when asked by reporter David Jones about the halfback pass Barkley completed to DaeSean Hamilton and the implications in play calling to set up a Heisman highlight reel, Franklin wasn't biting.
"For us, we are big believers that with group and team success comes individual success," said Franklin.
Barkley echoed the sentiment.
"The kickoff return, I was excited to start the game off right. The passing touchdown, I was completely nervous because you can ask my teammates, that play didn't go too well in practice. I gotta thank JoeMo for trusting me to make that pass and DaeSean for making the catch and finding a way to get into the end zone. I feel like I've said it so many times, but I don't care about the Heisman award. Obviously I care about it because I'm a competitor and I want to be the best and I would love try to win it, but that's not my focus."
4) Field goals.
The nightmare season for Tyler Davis continued Saturday as he missed two of his three field goal attempts, including a 21-yarder in the third quarter.
"Obviously we gotta get the field goal situation cleaned up," said Franklin. "That's unacceptable. I'm not pleased with that at all. I don't want this to come off the wrong way, we are going to enjoy wins around here, but there's still some things that we have to be honest with ourselves and things that we gotta get cleaned up."
5) And the running game was the other Franklin stressed as needing to be cleaned up following the game.
Certainly, the results on the afternoon spoke volumes as to why. Penn State finished with 39 yards on the ground
"Offensively, obviously everybody's game plan is to stop Saquon Barkley in the run game," said Franklin. "We have to get better in that area, but I love the fact that we have so many different guys that can hurt you like DaeSean Hamilton and a number of guys that can go out there and make plays on the perimeter. So we gotta get the running game cleaned up.
"We gotta be better, there's no doubt about it, but that's another kind of example of why we said we also wanted to use Saquon Barkley as the kickoff returner because it's a play that we know that we can get the ball into his hands in space and obviously it paid off for us today."
Bonus) I was looking around on the sideline through the course of the game, and it looked like Ellis Brooks was nicked up, with his right arm wrapped up in what appeared to be a cast.
Bonus 2) Obviously, lots of chatter postgame on DaeSean Hamilton's big day. I don't want to ignore it here, but Tim Owen will have more for you guys on his new place in Penn State history.
