Penn State head coach James Franklin addressed the media Tuesday afternoon at Beaver Stadium, fresh off his Nittany Lions' 39-38 loss at No. 6 Ohio State on Saturday. Before starting taking questions, however, Franklin through a lengthy series of notes he prepared for himself to address the issues and vulnerabilities that helped lead to the loss against the Buckeyes.
Running through the list, Franklin offered up a full-disclosure accounting for what he perceived to be the areas that most needed correction at Ohio State.
- Finishing the game, starting with a "finisher's mentality" that must permeate the coaches, players and everyone in the program, created a painful lesson for everyone to learn.
- Sharpening focus in a rowdy road environment was needed.
- Improving performance defensively in the face of sudden changes, be it a punt block or turnovers, in which the defense can swing momentum back to the Lions' offense.
- Improving the running game offensively will need to occur, starting by eliminating negative yardage plays. As pointed out Sunday, Barkley finished with 21 carries for 44 yards, but broken down by positive and negative plays, had 12 carries for 80 yards and another nine carries for negative-36 yards.
"Offense, we have to improve in the run game," said Franklin. "I think the biggest thing really is eliminating the negative-yardage plays. It's not the average run, because a lot of the defenses that we're facing are really good at stopping the run. But our issue is the negative-yardage plays, whether they make a good call and catch us in a look that we're not expecting or whether it's an RPO, we should have pulled it and threw the ball rather than handed it off, or whether it's not trying to turn every run into an 80-yard run, only getting two yards. We have to get better in that area."
- The Lions need to be more explosive in games like that. They have a goal of at least 10 chunk plays per game but came away with only seven on Saturday.
- Refuting some aspects of the "aggressiveness" charges against the offensive play calling, Franklin said a combination of the crowd and an inability to both run the ball as well as a constant quarterback hurried situation in the backfield were the difference at the end of the game.
"We had a lot of discussions about four-minute offense, those types of things, continuing to be aggressive," said Franklin. "When you actually watch the game, when we ran the ball, we weren't being successful and had negative-yardage plays. When we threw the ball, Trace was running for his life. I think there's some things we can do to help in those situations which we had a lot of discussions about."
Then, he pivoted to some of the positive aspects he noted from the game.
- The program is staying positive about the progress that has already been made and will continue to be made. Referencing some of the team's past performances against the inarguable cream of the conference crop in Ohio State, Franklin said last year and this year's game reveal the areas that must improve as well as the progress that has already been accomplished.
- Not having any turnovers on Saturday was important, as was creating two takeaways.
- Handling the noise was executed well operationally in terms of offsides, delay of games or getting calls onto the field.
- Defensively, Penn State continued to be strong in the first and third quarters. The Lions' defense against Ohio State's two-point conversion attempts, both denied, was also critical and gave the offense an opportunity to win the game.
- Special teams performances were the story of the first half, not only for the positives they created with a kickoff return for a touchdown and the short field created by Koa Farmer's return, but also in a negative sense of how the game was perceived. The Lions appeared to be dominated statistically both offensively and defensively by the Buckeyes precisely because of that special teams success, he argued.
Finally moving on to Michigan State, Franklin noted the challenges the Top 25-ranked Spartans would present, particularly on the road.
But upon taking questions from the assembled media over the phone and in person at Beaver Stadium, Franklin had little choice but to revisit some of the vulnerabilities he'd previously mentioned.
A slow burn, Franklin at times appeared somewhat frustrated with the repetition of the theme of the questions, ultimately leading to the exchange that summarily defined the entire press conference.
"You mentioned the fade to Mike that you checked out of because the safety was higher. Are there concerns defenses are getting to the point where they're able to force you into your weaknesses, take away that element of surprise you might have had otherwise? How does that work when you are unable outside of Saquon's runs..."
Franklin: "Again, I don't know if I would necessarily describe it the way you guys have been describing things today.
"We've been scoring a bunch of points, so I don't know if you're able to score the points that we've been able to score and take that we're predictable. If we were predictable, we probably wouldn't be scoring as many points as we've been scoring.
"We have a running back, you say besides Saquon in the running game, he's our running back and we play with one on the field. The explosive runs will probably come from your running back. I do think Trace has been a part of explosive plays in our running game, as well. I think our receivers have been pretty good.
"I think what I did mention to you guys that I think is the model that a lot of people are using now is that they're going to play a soft coverage and make us throw underneath. We're not getting the 80-yard touchdowns or 70-yard touchdowns that we've had in the past, but we're still creating explosive plays. We're throwing the ball underneath, the guy is running for 16 yards rather than catching the ball behind the defense. And that's smart.
"Ohio State had an extra week to prepare. They played some stuff on offense and defense that we hadn't seen them do all year long. That's what the extra week of preparation does. But I don't think it's necessarily that people are predicting what we're doing. I think people are saying we're going to overload the box, we're going to play some version of a soft quarters or some version of a soft cover two and not allow you to throw the ball over our heads. You're going to get big plays, but they are going to be 16-yard plays, 20-yard plays, not 50-yard plays. Are you going to be able to do that consistently down the field against us? Michigan decided not to play that style, and we were able to get the ball behind them, create some explosive plays.
"I understand what you guys are saying. I don't know with some of you guys if I necessarily agree with how the question is being asked. But I get it. I wouldn't describe it the way you just did. Our explosive runs are coming from our running back because he's our running back. In the passing game, people are playing a softer coverage, which makes sense. That's a model that makes sense against us.
"What you have to say is, if you're playing Penn State, you can't allow Saquon Barkley to beat you, you overload the box, you can't allow them to throw the ball over your head. That's the style. Instead of us maybe scoring 40 points a game, we're scoring 30 or so points a game. But I think we're still playing really good complementary football. The offense has been typically scoring enough to win. The defense has been typically holding people less to allow us to be successful and win. Our special teams have been playing pretty well.
"I guess what I'm saying is there is obvious areas we need to get better. I recognize them just like you guys do, and the fans. But we're not panicking right here. There's issues that need to be addressed. I promise you they are being addressed and worked on. But we're not going to hit the panic mode because we lost on the road to the sixth ranked team in the country, on the road, by one point.
"Do we need to finish better? Yes. Do I take responsibility? No doubt. Do I have tough conversations with my staff about the things that we need to get better about? Yes. Do I challenge the players to take a hard look at themselves and grow as a program? Yeah.
"But I am going to stay positive. We are going to work on our challenges and issues every week, no matter what the results are. But we got one of the more explosive offenses in the country. We have some areas that we need to get better. We got one of the better defenses in the country. We have some areas that we need to get better. We've had one of the more special teams programs in the country this year. We have areas we need to get better.
"I just want everybody to understand very clearly we recognize them and we are going to be working on them as hard as we possibly can to give us the best chance to be successful this week against Michigan State."
And with that, Penn State's head coach offered a complete accounting for how the 7-1 Nittany Lions now aim to move forward in the wake of the loss.
Regardless of what happens with the first College Football Playoff ranking show Tuesday night, some of the fan or media reaction from the Lions' loss at Ohio State, or virtually any other hurdle now in front of the program, Franklin intends to act as a steadying presence to keep Penn State on its chosen path.
Other Notes:
- Franklin would not comment on injuries, but danced somewhat around the two most prominent to come from the game on Saturday in defensive end Ryan Buchholz and left tackle Ryan Bates.
First, regarding Buchholz, Franklin was asked about the performances of some of the team's younger defensive ends including Yetur Gross-Matos, Shaka Toney, and Shane Simmons, he said this:
"Shaka probably played too many plays on Saturday, but it was the situation we were in. We have to continue developing those guys and get some of the veteran guys back, as well. Some of those injuries are starting to add up for us a little bit at certain positions," he said. "It's a great opportunity for those guys to continue to grow and develop and make plays. Obviously some of those younger players, it's easier to play them in a one-back offense, spread style situation, where it's going to be a lot of pass-rush, compared to a Michigan State where they're going to try to run the ball down your throat and play-action pass.
"We're going to have to continue to develop those guys. I think you guys know we do have some position flexibility with some of our guys, some of the depth we do have at D tackle, creates some flexibility for us, as well."
Read into that as you will, but pretty apparently, Ryan Buchholz is likely to be missing from at least Penn State's game at Michigan State on Saturday due to the left ankle/foot injury he appeared to sustain at Ohio State. And the Nittany Lions, in turn, will need to make some adjustments while speeding the development of their situational defensive ends simultaneously.
For Bates, however, Franklin's line was somewhat different, noting that they have not determined if they'll need to replace anyone on the offensive line at this point in the week. And, if it comes to that in which Bates does need replaced, Franklin said they have options.
"We got Bates, who has played, played well. You got Chasz, who we were able to be successful with last year. You got Will Fries, who is a developing player, who we're excited about as well. You have Mahon who has played out there at a high level before. Then guys that we're developing behind them, Gellerstedt, guys like that," said Franklin. "There's options and scenarios there, but we're pretty confident that we'll have what we need to be successful on Saturday."
- One interesting exchange that specifically was directed at the level of "aggressiveness" in play calling in the fourth quarter came when Franklin revealed the fundamental breakdown between reality and perception of what the Nittany Lions were doing on Saturday.
"I think what happens, a lot of people don't understand, you don't know when we have a run or pass called because every play is essentially a run or pass. We're not just going to throw the ball into the end zone if the look is not there. Every single one of those plays. We had a fade call to Mike Gesicki. There were two defensive backs over his head, so we ran the ball in that situation. You'd love to come out with a touchdown in that situation," he said.
He then transitioned to what he was referencing more directly in his earlier comments, particularly the drive that saw the blown up handoff between Barkley and McSorley in the shadow of their own end zone.
"I thought we probably could have been a little bit more aggressive. We ran the ball in those situations, get a negative yardage play, then you end up getting into a situation where you're throwing in a predictable situation or you run the ball now and people are confused on why you're running the ball in third-and-long situations," he said. "Joe Moorhead is one of the better play callers in college football. We've been very successful. I don't want anybody to think what I'm saying up here is questioning how we handled that situation at the end of the game because I'm not.
"It's easy to second guess after the fact. We were not protecting at that point well or running the ball at that point well against their defensive line. Very similar to what happened at our place the year before."
******
Certainly, plenty to chew on from Franklin on Tuesday, but in a bottom line scenario, the press conference as a whole amounted to a combination of areas to see continued improvement for his team, an accounting for the mistakes that were made, and an acknowledgment of the positives that Penn State has already demonstrated as a program the past two seasons.
Running through the list, Franklin offered up a full-disclosure accounting for what he perceived to be the areas that most needed correction at Ohio State.
- Finishing the game, starting with a "finisher's mentality" that must permeate the coaches, players and everyone in the program, created a painful lesson for everyone to learn.
- Sharpening focus in a rowdy road environment was needed.
- Improving performance defensively in the face of sudden changes, be it a punt block or turnovers, in which the defense can swing momentum back to the Lions' offense.
- Improving the running game offensively will need to occur, starting by eliminating negative yardage plays. As pointed out Sunday, Barkley finished with 21 carries for 44 yards, but broken down by positive and negative plays, had 12 carries for 80 yards and another nine carries for negative-36 yards.
"Offense, we have to improve in the run game," said Franklin. "I think the biggest thing really is eliminating the negative-yardage plays. It's not the average run, because a lot of the defenses that we're facing are really good at stopping the run. But our issue is the negative-yardage plays, whether they make a good call and catch us in a look that we're not expecting or whether it's an RPO, we should have pulled it and threw the ball rather than handed it off, or whether it's not trying to turn every run into an 80-yard run, only getting two yards. We have to get better in that area."
- The Lions need to be more explosive in games like that. They have a goal of at least 10 chunk plays per game but came away with only seven on Saturday.
- Refuting some aspects of the "aggressiveness" charges against the offensive play calling, Franklin said a combination of the crowd and an inability to both run the ball as well as a constant quarterback hurried situation in the backfield were the difference at the end of the game.
"We had a lot of discussions about four-minute offense, those types of things, continuing to be aggressive," said Franklin. "When you actually watch the game, when we ran the ball, we weren't being successful and had negative-yardage plays. When we threw the ball, Trace was running for his life. I think there's some things we can do to help in those situations which we had a lot of discussions about."
Then, he pivoted to some of the positive aspects he noted from the game.
- The program is staying positive about the progress that has already been made and will continue to be made. Referencing some of the team's past performances against the inarguable cream of the conference crop in Ohio State, Franklin said last year and this year's game reveal the areas that must improve as well as the progress that has already been accomplished.
- Not having any turnovers on Saturday was important, as was creating two takeaways.
- Handling the noise was executed well operationally in terms of offsides, delay of games or getting calls onto the field.
- Defensively, Penn State continued to be strong in the first and third quarters. The Lions' defense against Ohio State's two-point conversion attempts, both denied, was also critical and gave the offense an opportunity to win the game.
- Special teams performances were the story of the first half, not only for the positives they created with a kickoff return for a touchdown and the short field created by Koa Farmer's return, but also in a negative sense of how the game was perceived. The Lions appeared to be dominated statistically both offensively and defensively by the Buckeyes precisely because of that special teams success, he argued.
Finally moving on to Michigan State, Franklin noted the challenges the Top 25-ranked Spartans would present, particularly on the road.
But upon taking questions from the assembled media over the phone and in person at Beaver Stadium, Franklin had little choice but to revisit some of the vulnerabilities he'd previously mentioned.
A slow burn, Franklin at times appeared somewhat frustrated with the repetition of the theme of the questions, ultimately leading to the exchange that summarily defined the entire press conference.
"You mentioned the fade to Mike that you checked out of because the safety was higher. Are there concerns defenses are getting to the point where they're able to force you into your weaknesses, take away that element of surprise you might have had otherwise? How does that work when you are unable outside of Saquon's runs..."
Franklin: "Again, I don't know if I would necessarily describe it the way you guys have been describing things today.
"We've been scoring a bunch of points, so I don't know if you're able to score the points that we've been able to score and take that we're predictable. If we were predictable, we probably wouldn't be scoring as many points as we've been scoring.
"We have a running back, you say besides Saquon in the running game, he's our running back and we play with one on the field. The explosive runs will probably come from your running back. I do think Trace has been a part of explosive plays in our running game, as well. I think our receivers have been pretty good.
"I think what I did mention to you guys that I think is the model that a lot of people are using now is that they're going to play a soft coverage and make us throw underneath. We're not getting the 80-yard touchdowns or 70-yard touchdowns that we've had in the past, but we're still creating explosive plays. We're throwing the ball underneath, the guy is running for 16 yards rather than catching the ball behind the defense. And that's smart.
"Ohio State had an extra week to prepare. They played some stuff on offense and defense that we hadn't seen them do all year long. That's what the extra week of preparation does. But I don't think it's necessarily that people are predicting what we're doing. I think people are saying we're going to overload the box, we're going to play some version of a soft quarters or some version of a soft cover two and not allow you to throw the ball over our heads. You're going to get big plays, but they are going to be 16-yard plays, 20-yard plays, not 50-yard plays. Are you going to be able to do that consistently down the field against us? Michigan decided not to play that style, and we were able to get the ball behind them, create some explosive plays.
"I understand what you guys are saying. I don't know with some of you guys if I necessarily agree with how the question is being asked. But I get it. I wouldn't describe it the way you just did. Our explosive runs are coming from our running back because he's our running back. In the passing game, people are playing a softer coverage, which makes sense. That's a model that makes sense against us.
"What you have to say is, if you're playing Penn State, you can't allow Saquon Barkley to beat you, you overload the box, you can't allow them to throw the ball over your head. That's the style. Instead of us maybe scoring 40 points a game, we're scoring 30 or so points a game. But I think we're still playing really good complementary football. The offense has been typically scoring enough to win. The defense has been typically holding people less to allow us to be successful and win. Our special teams have been playing pretty well.
"I guess what I'm saying is there is obvious areas we need to get better. I recognize them just like you guys do, and the fans. But we're not panicking right here. There's issues that need to be addressed. I promise you they are being addressed and worked on. But we're not going to hit the panic mode because we lost on the road to the sixth ranked team in the country, on the road, by one point.
"Do we need to finish better? Yes. Do I take responsibility? No doubt. Do I have tough conversations with my staff about the things that we need to get better about? Yes. Do I challenge the players to take a hard look at themselves and grow as a program? Yeah.
"But I am going to stay positive. We are going to work on our challenges and issues every week, no matter what the results are. But we got one of the more explosive offenses in the country. We have some areas that we need to get better. We got one of the better defenses in the country. We have some areas that we need to get better. We've had one of the more special teams programs in the country this year. We have areas we need to get better.
"I just want everybody to understand very clearly we recognize them and we are going to be working on them as hard as we possibly can to give us the best chance to be successful this week against Michigan State."
And with that, Penn State's head coach offered a complete accounting for how the 7-1 Nittany Lions now aim to move forward in the wake of the loss.
Regardless of what happens with the first College Football Playoff ranking show Tuesday night, some of the fan or media reaction from the Lions' loss at Ohio State, or virtually any other hurdle now in front of the program, Franklin intends to act as a steadying presence to keep Penn State on its chosen path.
Other Notes:
- Franklin would not comment on injuries, but danced somewhat around the two most prominent to come from the game on Saturday in defensive end Ryan Buchholz and left tackle Ryan Bates.
First, regarding Buchholz, Franklin was asked about the performances of some of the team's younger defensive ends including Yetur Gross-Matos, Shaka Toney, and Shane Simmons, he said this:
"Shaka probably played too many plays on Saturday, but it was the situation we were in. We have to continue developing those guys and get some of the veteran guys back, as well. Some of those injuries are starting to add up for us a little bit at certain positions," he said. "It's a great opportunity for those guys to continue to grow and develop and make plays. Obviously some of those younger players, it's easier to play them in a one-back offense, spread style situation, where it's going to be a lot of pass-rush, compared to a Michigan State where they're going to try to run the ball down your throat and play-action pass.
"We're going to have to continue to develop those guys. I think you guys know we do have some position flexibility with some of our guys, some of the depth we do have at D tackle, creates some flexibility for us, as well."
Read into that as you will, but pretty apparently, Ryan Buchholz is likely to be missing from at least Penn State's game at Michigan State on Saturday due to the left ankle/foot injury he appeared to sustain at Ohio State. And the Nittany Lions, in turn, will need to make some adjustments while speeding the development of their situational defensive ends simultaneously.
For Bates, however, Franklin's line was somewhat different, noting that they have not determined if they'll need to replace anyone on the offensive line at this point in the week. And, if it comes to that in which Bates does need replaced, Franklin said they have options.
"We got Bates, who has played, played well. You got Chasz, who we were able to be successful with last year. You got Will Fries, who is a developing player, who we're excited about as well. You have Mahon who has played out there at a high level before. Then guys that we're developing behind them, Gellerstedt, guys like that," said Franklin. "There's options and scenarios there, but we're pretty confident that we'll have what we need to be successful on Saturday."
- One interesting exchange that specifically was directed at the level of "aggressiveness" in play calling in the fourth quarter came when Franklin revealed the fundamental breakdown between reality and perception of what the Nittany Lions were doing on Saturday.
"I think what happens, a lot of people don't understand, you don't know when we have a run or pass called because every play is essentially a run or pass. We're not just going to throw the ball into the end zone if the look is not there. Every single one of those plays. We had a fade call to Mike Gesicki. There were two defensive backs over his head, so we ran the ball in that situation. You'd love to come out with a touchdown in that situation," he said.
He then transitioned to what he was referencing more directly in his earlier comments, particularly the drive that saw the blown up handoff between Barkley and McSorley in the shadow of their own end zone.
"I thought we probably could have been a little bit more aggressive. We ran the ball in those situations, get a negative yardage play, then you end up getting into a situation where you're throwing in a predictable situation or you run the ball now and people are confused on why you're running the ball in third-and-long situations," he said. "Joe Moorhead is one of the better play callers in college football. We've been very successful. I don't want anybody to think what I'm saying up here is questioning how we handled that situation at the end of the game because I'm not.
"It's easy to second guess after the fact. We were not protecting at that point well or running the ball at that point well against their defensive line. Very similar to what happened at our place the year before."
******
Certainly, plenty to chew on from Franklin on Tuesday, but in a bottom line scenario, the press conference as a whole amounted to a combination of areas to see continued improvement for his team, an accounting for the mistakes that were made, and an acknowledgment of the positives that Penn State has already demonstrated as a program the past two seasons.
