Only the relevant stuff tonight, guys. Paraphrased from Franklin's answers on his weekly radio show tonight.
On confidence in the Beaver Stadium field condition:
It’s not something he has any influence on, so he doesn't worry about it. Herb Combs and his crew felt it was the right thing to do because the turf got torn up. Whether he worries about it or not, it’s not changing. Likes grass, so it makes sense to have grass, but having field turf has some advantage. There’s an initial expense that goes with it and after that, there’s not a lot of up keep. You have consistent playing surface. Plus and minus to both.
On perception of Illinois:
Doesn’t worry about perception of Illinois. Watches film. Doesn’t care about opinions of the media. Evaluate the film and if that says they’re good players, that’s what they go with. The defense statistically is pretty darn good. Offense the same. Head coach has been play caller for 30 years. Big, strong, physical, veteran team. 21 juniors or seniors starting for them. Felt like this was the year they’d been waiting for. Felt they’d have a chance to be pretty good.
On QB Wes Lunt:
He’s a big guy, very good thrower, not a dual threat QB. But he does a really good job of not taking sacks, of throwing the ball away, and then also buying time and throwing from different launch points and being very accurate. Recruited him hard at Vanderbilt. Started at OK St. and transferred. Special player. Have a really good plan this week for them. Thinks it’s going to be their strength OL vs. Penn State strength DL. Carl is 1 1/2 sacks away from all time record in school history. One of better teams in the country in tackles for loss. Will be an interesting challenge to see how it all plays out.
On experience on this team:
Growing up every single day. Sees it at practice. Sees old guys taking young guys under their wings. It’s not just the seniors on your team and how they play, but also those seniors teaching from a culture perspective how to practice and conduct themselves. Penn State has been a senior and junior driven program forever. That’s how Joe set it up. Old guys taught the young guys how to do it. Just don’t have that right now. Culturally, that’s what you want.
Who to watch from Illinois defense:
Their two safeties do an unbelievable job of holding their responsibility and doing it play after play. They miss very few tackles. That’s who they are at linebacker too. Two corners are two best players. Then DL is massive. Their DC, was with him for three or four years at Maryland. Have done a nice job overall.
Ideal time to have an open date:
You want your bye week to be in the middle of the season. Will play two opponents in three weeks that have two weeks to prepare for them. Guess who has probably the most teams with bye weeks before they play them. As you can imagine, there are some other teams that don’t play programs with byes leading up to their game. Thought maybe it’s just one year. Over three years, more interesting.
On confidence in the Beaver Stadium field condition:
It’s not something he has any influence on, so he doesn't worry about it. Herb Combs and his crew felt it was the right thing to do because the turf got torn up. Whether he worries about it or not, it’s not changing. Likes grass, so it makes sense to have grass, but having field turf has some advantage. There’s an initial expense that goes with it and after that, there’s not a lot of up keep. You have consistent playing surface. Plus and minus to both.
On perception of Illinois:
Doesn’t worry about perception of Illinois. Watches film. Doesn’t care about opinions of the media. Evaluate the film and if that says they’re good players, that’s what they go with. The defense statistically is pretty darn good. Offense the same. Head coach has been play caller for 30 years. Big, strong, physical, veteran team. 21 juniors or seniors starting for them. Felt like this was the year they’d been waiting for. Felt they’d have a chance to be pretty good.
On QB Wes Lunt:
He’s a big guy, very good thrower, not a dual threat QB. But he does a really good job of not taking sacks, of throwing the ball away, and then also buying time and throwing from different launch points and being very accurate. Recruited him hard at Vanderbilt. Started at OK St. and transferred. Special player. Have a really good plan this week for them. Thinks it’s going to be their strength OL vs. Penn State strength DL. Carl is 1 1/2 sacks away from all time record in school history. One of better teams in the country in tackles for loss. Will be an interesting challenge to see how it all plays out.
On experience on this team:
Growing up every single day. Sees it at practice. Sees old guys taking young guys under their wings. It’s not just the seniors on your team and how they play, but also those seniors teaching from a culture perspective how to practice and conduct themselves. Penn State has been a senior and junior driven program forever. That’s how Joe set it up. Old guys taught the young guys how to do it. Just don’t have that right now. Culturally, that’s what you want.
Who to watch from Illinois defense:
Their two safeties do an unbelievable job of holding their responsibility and doing it play after play. They miss very few tackles. That’s who they are at linebacker too. Two corners are two best players. Then DL is massive. Their DC, was with him for three or four years at Maryland. Have done a nice job overall.
Ideal time to have an open date:
You want your bye week to be in the middle of the season. Will play two opponents in three weeks that have two weeks to prepare for them. Guess who has probably the most teams with bye weeks before they play them. As you can imagine, there are some other teams that don’t play programs with byes leading up to their game. Thought maybe it’s just one year. Over three years, more interesting.
