James Franklin shares improvements in Penn State passing game

James Franklin recognizes there’s been improvement in the Penn State passing game, but the Nittany Lions aren’t reinventing the wheel.

According to Franklin, the latest improvement in the passing game and in quarterback Sean Clifford aren’t because of a change schematically, but instead their athletes are simply making more plays.

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“I don’t really necessarily see a change in that in practice and in games,” explained Franklin. “We’ve made some more plays, we’ve made some more contested catches. We had some drops early on. I’ve mentioned to you guys, I think the last couple weeks, I mean obviously we can all pick out the things that we’ve got to improve on in terms of the mistakes and things that we need to eliminate, but I do think the last two games, Sean’s also made some big time play. I think we talked about a couple of throws in the previous game, not this last one, the one before. 

“He’s made some big time throws, and that’s part of it as well.”

Alas, Clifford has thrown some more touchdowns and made some more electrifying plays over recent weeks, but the turnover bug has still bitten the Nittany Lions. The latter was simply too much to overcome in Penn State’s recent loss to Ohio State.

Nevertheless, James Franklin will be hoping for his team to finish the season strong, and he’ll be relying on his offense to help the Nittany Lions do so.

James Franklin discusses possible quarterback change at Penn State

Following a second Big Ten defeat on Saturday against Ohio State, Penn State is probably realistically out of the conference title race. Starting quarterback Sean Clifford was shaky in that loss, so is a quarterback change at Penn State looming?

You’ll have to tune in on Saturday against Indiana to find out.

“Obviously there’s nothing to really report in terms of changes,” coach James Franklin said Wednesday. “You guys haven’t really asked me this the whole rest of the season, so obviously if there’s any type of change I probably still wouldn’t announce it till after the game obviously because the other team is watching everything we discuss.”

Clifford got things off to a rocky start on Saturday against the Buckeyes, throwing interceptions on the first two drives of the game to help Ohio State build a quick 10-0 lead.

The Nittany Lions overcame that deficit quickly, but Clifford continues to be a bit up-and-down in close games.

He finished the contest 32-of-47 for 371 yards and three touchdowns, but he also threw three interceptions in the game. Will he retain his starting job on Saturday against the Hoosiers?

“I don’t have any announcements to be made,” Franklin reiterated.