Penn State head coach James Franklin addressed the media for his weekly press conference Tuesday afternoon at Beaver Stadium in advance of his Nittany Lions’ weekend clash with Indiana.
Per usual he ran through opening comments regarding the program’s big win at Iowa over the weekend, as well as previewed the Hoosiers coming off their win against Georgia Southern on Saturday.
Coming off a weekend in which the nation’s eyes were turned toward social protests in its professional sports leagues, though, Franklin was also asked to address his approach toward the controversies.
Attempting to keep his focus, and that of his team, on the Hoosiers, Franklin still offered up two detailed responses to the issue at hand.
Let’s run through some of the other news and notes items from the afternoon press conference, here:
1) First thing’s first; Franklin didn’t offer up specifics, but following a weekend in which right tackle Chasz Wright was unexpectedly absent due to an injury, the head coach appeared to indicate a return for the starter.
“We need to clean up our PAT field goal protection and operation. A little bit of that is personnel. Mostly fundamentals and technique things that we've got to get cleaned up after watching the tape,” said Franklin. “So it will be good having Chasz back at 6-7, 357 pounds. It will be nice to have him back, his size and length there.”
Franklin said nothing of the status of Andrew Nelson, who left the game Saturday in favor of Will Fries.
2) Franklin praised the effort of the Nittany Lion defense on Saturday.
“Defensively, we played probably as good of a first half of defensive football that I've seen in a very, very, very long time,” said Franklin.
Still, allowing too many big plays in crucial moments during the second half, Franklin said that the unit will need to concentrate on finishing out the game and focusing limiting those big plays.
Against the Hawkeyes, the Nittany Lions limited the hosts to 273 yards of total offense, with just 82 yards on the ground and only 11 first downs for the game. A 21-yard touchdown pass surrendered in the waning moments of the first half, a 70-yard dump pass breakdown for Akrum Wadley, and another 35-yard touchdown run with 1:42 left to play accounted for nearly half of the Hawkeyes’ total yards for the game.
3) Offensively Franklin brought up, and then was asked about, the performance of the Lions’ offensive line.
Bringing up a third-and-2 run for Trace McSorley with 12:53 left in the game, one that went for a loss of a yard and included a fumble in the backfield, Franklin said that a half-second more of blocking up front could have sprung a huge chunk play.
“If you watch that play, you go back and watch the play, we hold our block for a half second longer,” said Franklin, noting Iowa’s Cover 0 defensive scheme on the play. “Trace goes at the very least for a 40-yard run, if not scores a touchdown on a third down situation.
“So I think if you watched that play, that's kind of a really good example. We've just got to be a little bit better. We've got to be a little bit sharper. We've got to sustain blocks a little bit longer. That was probably the difference on Saturday.”
Bottom line, Franklin said sustaining blocks in the run game and protecting the quarterback as a passer are the two areas the offensive line needs to improve.
4) One of the issues raised during and following the game was the proficiency with which Iowa’s defensive line was able to tip and bat balls away up front.
The ABC telecast mentioned at least six balls batted down, and Franklin diagnosed the issue Tuesday.
“The batting the balls down, I think that's a combination; if you look at their defensive line and probably one of the tallest defensive lines in the country. I think they have two guys over 6-6. I think one guy is even maybe 6-7 or 6-8,” said Franklin. “I think that was part of their plan is that when they try to get the ball out quickly, they are going to stay at the line of scrimmage and jump up and bat balls down. I think that was part of their plan. Obviously fits their personnel very well because they are so long across their front.
“I think the O-line is playing probably about where we thought they would. Can they be better? Yes, no doubt about it. Will they get better? Yes, there's no doubt about it.”
5) Another game with some field goal issues prompted Franklin to address what the breakdowns have been with that unit in particular.
“I think the snaps and the holds for the most part have been pretty good,” Franklin began. “If you watched the one that got blocked, we had an offensive lineman lean forward and fall out of the hole and basically between our tight end and our wing and our tight end and our tackle, guys came pretty much, you know, unblocked through that hole, through that gap.
“Again, we had some changes there, not having Chasz Wright in the lineup and things like that; that we had some moving parts. Either way, we got to get it done. You know, we didn't in that situation.”
Franklin continued.
“I think what happens a lot of times with young players, they see an overload inside of them. Say there's three guys over your guard; so the tackle feels like he has to help him, and he leans in to help. And when you lean in like that, you've just helped one guy but you've created a weakness in another part of your protection. That's what happened. We leaned in to help to the left, created a scene to our right, put Castagna really tough position now, and he's got two to three guys over him with no one helping him.”
Per usual he ran through opening comments regarding the program’s big win at Iowa over the weekend, as well as previewed the Hoosiers coming off their win against Georgia Southern on Saturday.
Coming off a weekend in which the nation’s eyes were turned toward social protests in its professional sports leagues, though, Franklin was also asked to address his approach toward the controversies.
Attempting to keep his focus, and that of his team, on the Hoosiers, Franklin still offered up two detailed responses to the issue at hand.
Let’s run through some of the other news and notes items from the afternoon press conference, here:
1) First thing’s first; Franklin didn’t offer up specifics, but following a weekend in which right tackle Chasz Wright was unexpectedly absent due to an injury, the head coach appeared to indicate a return for the starter.
“We need to clean up our PAT field goal protection and operation. A little bit of that is personnel. Mostly fundamentals and technique things that we've got to get cleaned up after watching the tape,” said Franklin. “So it will be good having Chasz back at 6-7, 357 pounds. It will be nice to have him back, his size and length there.”
Franklin said nothing of the status of Andrew Nelson, who left the game Saturday in favor of Will Fries.
2) Franklin praised the effort of the Nittany Lion defense on Saturday.
“Defensively, we played probably as good of a first half of defensive football that I've seen in a very, very, very long time,” said Franklin.
Still, allowing too many big plays in crucial moments during the second half, Franklin said that the unit will need to concentrate on finishing out the game and focusing limiting those big plays.
Against the Hawkeyes, the Nittany Lions limited the hosts to 273 yards of total offense, with just 82 yards on the ground and only 11 first downs for the game. A 21-yard touchdown pass surrendered in the waning moments of the first half, a 70-yard dump pass breakdown for Akrum Wadley, and another 35-yard touchdown run with 1:42 left to play accounted for nearly half of the Hawkeyes’ total yards for the game.
3) Offensively Franklin brought up, and then was asked about, the performance of the Lions’ offensive line.
Bringing up a third-and-2 run for Trace McSorley with 12:53 left in the game, one that went for a loss of a yard and included a fumble in the backfield, Franklin said that a half-second more of blocking up front could have sprung a huge chunk play.
“If you watch that play, you go back and watch the play, we hold our block for a half second longer,” said Franklin, noting Iowa’s Cover 0 defensive scheme on the play. “Trace goes at the very least for a 40-yard run, if not scores a touchdown on a third down situation.
“So I think if you watched that play, that's kind of a really good example. We've just got to be a little bit better. We've got to be a little bit sharper. We've got to sustain blocks a little bit longer. That was probably the difference on Saturday.”
Bottom line, Franklin said sustaining blocks in the run game and protecting the quarterback as a passer are the two areas the offensive line needs to improve.
4) One of the issues raised during and following the game was the proficiency with which Iowa’s defensive line was able to tip and bat balls away up front.
The ABC telecast mentioned at least six balls batted down, and Franklin diagnosed the issue Tuesday.
“The batting the balls down, I think that's a combination; if you look at their defensive line and probably one of the tallest defensive lines in the country. I think they have two guys over 6-6. I think one guy is even maybe 6-7 or 6-8,” said Franklin. “I think that was part of their plan is that when they try to get the ball out quickly, they are going to stay at the line of scrimmage and jump up and bat balls down. I think that was part of their plan. Obviously fits their personnel very well because they are so long across their front.
“I think the O-line is playing probably about where we thought they would. Can they be better? Yes, no doubt about it. Will they get better? Yes, there's no doubt about it.”
5) Another game with some field goal issues prompted Franklin to address what the breakdowns have been with that unit in particular.
“I think the snaps and the holds for the most part have been pretty good,” Franklin began. “If you watched the one that got blocked, we had an offensive lineman lean forward and fall out of the hole and basically between our tight end and our wing and our tight end and our tackle, guys came pretty much, you know, unblocked through that hole, through that gap.
“Again, we had some changes there, not having Chasz Wright in the lineup and things like that; that we had some moving parts. Either way, we got to get it done. You know, we didn't in that situation.”
Franklin continued.
“I think what happens a lot of times with young players, they see an overload inside of them. Say there's three guys over your guard; so the tackle feels like he has to help him, and he leans in to help. And when you lean in like that, you've just helped one guy but you've created a weakness in another part of your protection. That's what happened. We leaned in to help to the left, created a scene to our right, put Castagna really tough position now, and he's got two to three guys over him with no one helping him.”
