For James Franklin, Tuesday’s weekly press conference began similar to how Saturday’s post-game ended: on a note of positivity.
He started by highlighting Penn State’s 4-1 record and stating how “only 40 teams in the country are 4-1 or better,” and how Penn State is “4-0 at home for the first time since 2008”, while playing 21 freshmen to this point of the season. He then credited his team’s +8 turnover margin, which ranks No. 8 in the country, as being a major reason why they’ve been able to win the last four in a row. “I don’t think that's gotten enough attention as it should, especially with the conditions of the games that we’ve played in,” he said.
Franklin went on to explain some other housekeeping items and provided additional insight into how they approach offensive game plans each week, and why they rotated defensive linemen so often against Army. Here are a few of the more notable comments to come from his half hour with reporters:
- Before answering questions, Franklin clarified something about the official depth chart that is released each Monday. As it’s been speculated upon, he said the early week depth chart normally reflects the lineup from the previous Saturday’s game.
The reason why, he added, is that the staff hasn’t had the necessary time with players to determine who will and will not play the next game by the time the game notes are released.
“Unless we have a season-ending injury the week before, there is not a whole lot of new information we can put on there,” he said. “It's pretty much going to be the Saturday depth chart unless we lose some guys. Like I've tried to explain every single week, a lot can happen on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to determine whether a guy is going to play. For me to list guys that I'm hopeful to have on Saturday, I don't know if that does anybody any good.”
Before anyone could ask, Franklin gave his input on injured players such as safety Marcus Allen and running back Saquon Barkley. He said he’s “hopeful” that they’ll play, but “there is still that a lot has to happen this week” before he’s confident in saying for sure one way or the other.
- Expounding further on the turnover margin, Franklin said the success has just as much to do with his defense taking the ball away as it has been his ball carriers securing the ball on offense. That, he said, has been a major focus during practice this season.
“We do a ball security circuit every single day in practice, and I know that sounds obvious, but I've never been anywhere that does it like that,” he said. “We do it every single day. Every single week I talk to our coaches about don't allow it to become monotonous or just a drill we are going through the motions on; make sure we are really working hard at that. So that's one thing.”
Another reason why the offense has limited it’s turnovers, he said, is because they have limited some of the risky throws downfield.
“We are going to call the game in a style that allows us to be successful, allows us to win, allows us to manage some of our issues,” added Franklin. “I said that four weeks ago, and I think that's really kind of what we are doing.”
Later in the presser, Franklin was asked if his faith in the defense – and its penchant for creating turnovers - has shaped the “conservative” play calling on the offensive side of the ball.
“Very much so,” he said. “You guys are asking me questions this week that I think are similar to how we have been approaching it, really, the last four weeks. Our defense has played at a high level. We feel good about our defensive line and what we are starting to develop in our secondary. Our challenge this year was linebacker, but the young linebackers are coming on so, yeah, I think a lot of things that we do and the style that we have played are to, you know, put us in those types of positions, so I don't think there is any doubt about it. I think if you look over the last two years that's a big factor in a lot of the decisions and the style that we have played.”
In that vein, Franklin discussed the delicate balance of managing the game from an offensive standpoint and not becoming too predictable.
“It goes back to the things we talked about all year long, understanding our strengths and weaknesses, making sure that some of our challenges don't become major issues in the game, and then obviously managing down and distance situations. Calling a shot in a situation where if you don't hit the shot you're not in a third and long situation and create a tough situation to stay on the field and convert on third down,” he explained. “But also not be so predictable.
“… It’s that fine line between those two things. The other thing is being willing, when you get in certain areas, in the red zone or after an earned first down, or after a turnover, be willing to (take a risk), but then if you're not successful on first down, then you have to be willing to call a bread-and-butter play on the second down to get you back to a manageable third down situation.”
- Providing additional insight into why and how his offense is called might have been, in part, a way to manage public expectations of his team. That, Franklin said, “is the hardest part of my job.”
“How do you go out and get people really excited about the season, about the team, about the future, without setting up false expectations?” he asked, before clarifying that what he loves “the most about Penn State is there is an expectation here for greatness. But it’s also the thing that can be the most challenging.”
- After Chris Gulla had one of the best punting performances against Rutgers in the 18 games of Franklin’s tenure at Penn State, now the punting has taken another turn toward inconsistent.
Franklin said his team’s punts, for better or worse, have had “a significant impact on our team” in both seasons, and now he’s asking Gulla and Danny Pasquariello to become a strength again “like it was early in the year.”
“If you look back, the games that they've punted well and swung field position and pinned people back with the way our defense plays, we've done pretty well,” he said. “The games that they have been inconsistent, it put our defense in tough spots and put our offense in tough spots.
“What I would say to you is, yeah, are they more consistent in practice? Yeah. I would say early in the year when Daniel started and Gulla started, they both did some exciting things and some nice things, but just like last year, then they've (become) inconsistent. Last year I think a lot of that had to do with pressure. I thought we had to clean some things up in our protection. Some of it last year we were getting the ball off slower. We time every punt in practice, we time every punt in games, as well as hang time and location and those things. So now it's just experience and it's maturity, and consistency is the biggest thing.”
- The last little interesting tidbit to include has to do with the defensive line and the approach it took against Army’s triple-option offense Saturday.
Against other offenses, Austin Johnson normally plays three series compared to backup Park Cothren’s one; Anthony Zettel plays two compared to Tarow Barney’s one. Facing Army, it was more of a 1:1 ratio for each combo.
“(With Army’s) style of play and how they're all packed in there, and as much cutting as they do, we wanted to cut our defensive line reps in half,” Franklin said. “And also our defensive tackles wore knee braces in that game, because we knew that type of play. To ask guys to play against that type of offense for 65, 70 reps (was a lot.) If you could get them down to 35 to 40 reps, we just thought that was the best thing to do in that game and we thought that was the best thing to do long term.”
He started by highlighting Penn State’s 4-1 record and stating how “only 40 teams in the country are 4-1 or better,” and how Penn State is “4-0 at home for the first time since 2008”, while playing 21 freshmen to this point of the season. He then credited his team’s +8 turnover margin, which ranks No. 8 in the country, as being a major reason why they’ve been able to win the last four in a row. “I don’t think that's gotten enough attention as it should, especially with the conditions of the games that we’ve played in,” he said.
Franklin went on to explain some other housekeeping items and provided additional insight into how they approach offensive game plans each week, and why they rotated defensive linemen so often against Army. Here are a few of the more notable comments to come from his half hour with reporters:
- Before answering questions, Franklin clarified something about the official depth chart that is released each Monday. As it’s been speculated upon, he said the early week depth chart normally reflects the lineup from the previous Saturday’s game.
The reason why, he added, is that the staff hasn’t had the necessary time with players to determine who will and will not play the next game by the time the game notes are released.
“Unless we have a season-ending injury the week before, there is not a whole lot of new information we can put on there,” he said. “It's pretty much going to be the Saturday depth chart unless we lose some guys. Like I've tried to explain every single week, a lot can happen on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to determine whether a guy is going to play. For me to list guys that I'm hopeful to have on Saturday, I don't know if that does anybody any good.”
Before anyone could ask, Franklin gave his input on injured players such as safety Marcus Allen and running back Saquon Barkley. He said he’s “hopeful” that they’ll play, but “there is still that a lot has to happen this week” before he’s confident in saying for sure one way or the other.
- Expounding further on the turnover margin, Franklin said the success has just as much to do with his defense taking the ball away as it has been his ball carriers securing the ball on offense. That, he said, has been a major focus during practice this season.
“We do a ball security circuit every single day in practice, and I know that sounds obvious, but I've never been anywhere that does it like that,” he said. “We do it every single day. Every single week I talk to our coaches about don't allow it to become monotonous or just a drill we are going through the motions on; make sure we are really working hard at that. So that's one thing.”
Another reason why the offense has limited it’s turnovers, he said, is because they have limited some of the risky throws downfield.
“We are going to call the game in a style that allows us to be successful, allows us to win, allows us to manage some of our issues,” added Franklin. “I said that four weeks ago, and I think that's really kind of what we are doing.”
Later in the presser, Franklin was asked if his faith in the defense – and its penchant for creating turnovers - has shaped the “conservative” play calling on the offensive side of the ball.
“Very much so,” he said. “You guys are asking me questions this week that I think are similar to how we have been approaching it, really, the last four weeks. Our defense has played at a high level. We feel good about our defensive line and what we are starting to develop in our secondary. Our challenge this year was linebacker, but the young linebackers are coming on so, yeah, I think a lot of things that we do and the style that we have played are to, you know, put us in those types of positions, so I don't think there is any doubt about it. I think if you look over the last two years that's a big factor in a lot of the decisions and the style that we have played.”
In that vein, Franklin discussed the delicate balance of managing the game from an offensive standpoint and not becoming too predictable.
“It goes back to the things we talked about all year long, understanding our strengths and weaknesses, making sure that some of our challenges don't become major issues in the game, and then obviously managing down and distance situations. Calling a shot in a situation where if you don't hit the shot you're not in a third and long situation and create a tough situation to stay on the field and convert on third down,” he explained. “But also not be so predictable.
“… It’s that fine line between those two things. The other thing is being willing, when you get in certain areas, in the red zone or after an earned first down, or after a turnover, be willing to (take a risk), but then if you're not successful on first down, then you have to be willing to call a bread-and-butter play on the second down to get you back to a manageable third down situation.”
- Providing additional insight into why and how his offense is called might have been, in part, a way to manage public expectations of his team. That, Franklin said, “is the hardest part of my job.”
“How do you go out and get people really excited about the season, about the team, about the future, without setting up false expectations?” he asked, before clarifying that what he loves “the most about Penn State is there is an expectation here for greatness. But it’s also the thing that can be the most challenging.”
- After Chris Gulla had one of the best punting performances against Rutgers in the 18 games of Franklin’s tenure at Penn State, now the punting has taken another turn toward inconsistent.
Franklin said his team’s punts, for better or worse, have had “a significant impact on our team” in both seasons, and now he’s asking Gulla and Danny Pasquariello to become a strength again “like it was early in the year.”
“If you look back, the games that they've punted well and swung field position and pinned people back with the way our defense plays, we've done pretty well,” he said. “The games that they have been inconsistent, it put our defense in tough spots and put our offense in tough spots.
“What I would say to you is, yeah, are they more consistent in practice? Yeah. I would say early in the year when Daniel started and Gulla started, they both did some exciting things and some nice things, but just like last year, then they've (become) inconsistent. Last year I think a lot of that had to do with pressure. I thought we had to clean some things up in our protection. Some of it last year we were getting the ball off slower. We time every punt in practice, we time every punt in games, as well as hang time and location and those things. So now it's just experience and it's maturity, and consistency is the biggest thing.”
- The last little interesting tidbit to include has to do with the defensive line and the approach it took against Army’s triple-option offense Saturday.
Against other offenses, Austin Johnson normally plays three series compared to backup Park Cothren’s one; Anthony Zettel plays two compared to Tarow Barney’s one. Facing Army, it was more of a 1:1 ratio for each combo.
“(With Army’s) style of play and how they're all packed in there, and as much cutting as they do, we wanted to cut our defensive line reps in half,” Franklin said. “And also our defensive tackles wore knee braces in that game, because we knew that type of play. To ask guys to play against that type of offense for 65, 70 reps (was a lot.) If you could get them down to 35 to 40 reps, we just thought that was the best thing to do in that game and we thought that was the best thing to do long term.”
Last edited:
