Everything James Franklin said after Penn State beat Michigan State, 42-0

Penn State head coach James Franklin addressed the media following his Nittany Lions’ 42-0 win over Michigan State to close the B1G season.

Take a look at the topics discussed, and his answers to those questions, presented in full:

Penn State coach James Franklin postgame comments

Opening statement

Franklin: So like always I want to thank you guys for coming out covered as a football. I want to give Michigan State a ton of credit under some challenging circumstances this year. We had a lot of respect for them on film. Their coaching staff I think has done a really good job, they battled all year long. I want to pay them some respect. I thought playing here in the dome, I talked to their AD before the game, I talked to their head coach before the game. And I thought this was real positive for both programs. It was a home game for Michigan State, but I thought there was a lot of positives about it. 

You talk about turnover battle, we won that. Explosive play battle, we won that. Third down battle, we won but we probably weren’t as good in that area. If I was going to be critical, that would be one of the areas that I’d be critical. Sack battle, we thought that was the most significant stat all week long. We talked about that. If you look at the success when it comes to wins and losses with Michigan State, that was a powerful statistic, winning that battle. Field position battle we won and then penalty battle, we won the number of penalties but the yards was a tie. I thought the game started out, the offense was able to move the ball up and down the field, we just weren’t finishing drives with touchdowns. But besides that, I thought we did some nice things. We just had too many penalties when we got into the red zone.

It was cool to see Jaylen Reed, a Detroit, Michigan native to be able to get an interception this week. Our special teams have really been solid the second half of the year and playing really well. We were able to get both running backs over 100 yards. We were able to protect the football. And we were able to play both quarterbacks. Something that we really wanted to do all year long, but we were able to emphasize the last two weeks. They both have different skill sets that can be challenging for a defense. So some real positives. Ten wins with a chance to go 1-0 and win 11 wins and hopefully a New Year’s Six Bowl game against a really good opponent like we did last year. So again, appreciate everybody coming out. Look forward to our next opportunity and open up to questions. 

On Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen playing well:

Franklin: Again, I guess the way you’re saying the question, I think they both had great years. In the run game, in my mind, they matched the expectations in the run game, in the pass game. When it comes to protection, they both clearly got better this year as overall running backs.

I think there’d been probably some other games where we could have gotten a few more yards, but we got them out and we’re trying to manage that situation and keep them healthy. But yeah, to see them both finish with 100 yards and get into the endzone was cool. I know it’s something also that our O-line takes a ton of pride in as well. But I think both of them, again when you study the tape, as complete players, they both got a lot better.

On vindication of winning dominantly:

Franklin: Again, we won 10 games this season. There’s very few programs in the country that are able to do that. We’ve done it in back to back seasons. I’m very proud of what we’ve done.

Do I understand and do I embrace the fact that this place has really, really high expectations? Nobody has higher expectations than the players and the coaches. So I’m not sure about all that. But I’m proud of this team and how we played tonight and how consistently we played this year.

But obviously there’s some steps that we have to take. I’m confident that we’re going to take those steps and be aggressive. And like I mentioned to you guys in the preseason, my confidence comes from the alignment of our leadership of Neeli Bendapudi and Pat Kraft, and then hopefully consistency in the football program as well. 

On how Drew Allar played:

Franklin: I thought he played well. I thought he missed some throws on the run that I think he normally makes. But overall, I thought he played well. I guess it’s interesting, right? We talk about criticisms, I mean how many touchdown passes has he thrown this year? Twenty-four. And how many interceptions? One interception. I think if you just took that statistic and told the 132 coaches in the country that their quarterback would have those stats before the season started, I think everybody would take it and run. So as a first year starter, I thought he did some really good things.

Obviously, I thought we did some good things tonight in terms of emphasizing the tight ends and the running backs. I thought we did that the last two weeks. We were able to take some shots as well. We’ve been more explosive. I think he’s played really well. And I think he’s played really well all year long.

There’s been some areas that we need to get better as an offense, and there’s areas that Drew needs to get better. There’s no doubt about it. But again, I think when you’re looking at the overall picture, I don’t think there’s a coach in the country that if they could take those statistics at the beginning of the season, everybody would take them and run. 

On defensive buy-in:

Franklin: There’s a difference between buying into statistics and buying into playing really good football. And one of the things that I think happens sometimes is, a guy who maybe doesn’t have a certain amount of catches or a guy doesn’t have a certain amount of tackles or whatever it may be, interceptions, whatever it may be.

I’m still a big believer that when true football people like you guys, the scouts, are studying the tape, they’re playing the game the way it’s supposed to be played. There’s a ton of times where you’re a defensive lineman, and you run a twist and you’re the penetrator and the guy who’s looping the twist gets the sack. Well, the penetrator causes the sack and real football people that are studying it, understand that.

Our guys have bought into that on offense, defense and special teams. And the reality is, when you do your job and your teammate does his jobs, the plays that are supposed to come to you will come to you. And we’ve done a good job of that. We played really good defense, really have been fortunate. We played really good defense since I’ve become a head coach. I think Manny and his staff have taken it to another level. But we’ve been playing good defense for a long time. 

On lessons learned about receivers:

Franklin: I think it’s like we talked about before. I think there’s some talent there. And I think what we have done a good job, the last specifically two weeks, is I think sometimes as coaches you focus on things that guys can’t do, rather than saying Okay, here’s something that this guy does really well. Let’s allow him to use that and then allow him to have success there and build on it. We probably rotated more guys.

It was interesting. The last week you guys asked me some questions about certain guys, how come this guy didn’t get any touches, but in early weeks, it was like, how come these other receivers aren’t playing? We’re playing more guys. We’re rotating more guys. So that’s a factor in it as well. But I think the biggest thing is, we got some guys that I think can really do some good things. We have played to their strengths. We focused on the things that they can do, and then use that with some confidence to build for the future.

On the schedule the next few weeks:

Franklin: In house, we’ll watch a ton of recruiting film and get organized, going on the road and how we’re going to balance the schedule. All the bowl schedules are already set. We already have the calendars all set for where we would go and who we would play.

The obvious thing is, I’m going to be in Saturday and Sunday zooming with a ton of perspective offensive coordinator candidates. Then we’ll spend, I think we have three days scheduled to meet with every single player on the team by position coach, and then I’ll meet with some guys as well. And then obviously, we’ll start getting into some practicing and then kind of go from there.

But meeting with our players is a priority. Watching recruiting film and getting organized, where we’re going and how we’re going to finish this class up the right way, also the transfer portal. We got to be all over those things. And then with technology, now I can sit in my office and get 90 percent of the work done on Zoom which I think makes the most sense.

On future perception on this season in context of a 12-team playoff:

Franklin: I think there’s data if you go back and say how many times if there was a 12-team playoff, how many times would we have been in. I think just looking at that statistic and where we’re going to finish this regular season, depending on the College Football Playoff rankings, I think we’d be in it here and I think we’re playing kind of our best football now. So it’s good to be kind of trending at the right time. But that’s for next year.

This year, we played good enough to win 10 games and hopefully get into a New Year’s Six Bowl game and play well there. I think that’s probably more challenging than it’s been in the past with all the different things that have changed in college football over the last five years. But yeah, again, I’m proud of it.