Everything Penn State coach James Franklin said after his team's 35-6 win over Washington

STATE COLLEGE — Penn State coach James Franklin held a news conference following his team’s 35-6 win over Washington. As always, he started with an opening statement.

“I want to start with the crowd,” Franklin said. “Awesome crowd, again, one of the best sporting events, not just football; one of the best sporting events that there is out there. The White Out is always fantastic. I appreciate our Athletic Director, Pat Kraft, working with the Big Ten to give us a chance to play this game at night as well. So, all things considered, real positive. You look at the game, in my opinion, the game was won on third down. We were 77% on third down to their 30%. I think we were 7-of-7 in the first half to start the game. The turnover battle was tied. Explosive play battle, we won. Not as explosive as we would normally like to be, but we still won that battle. I think it was 13% to 5% in the sack battle. That was a dominant aspect of the game.

“I thought our O-line, we didn’t give up any sacks in the game. Some of that was Drew extending plays, but then our defense was able to get five sacks in the game. Penalty battle, I still think there’s some things that we need to get cleaned up, but overall, that was a toss-up. And then, I thought the end of the first half was big. In the middle eight, we put up 14 points to their zero. So, you’ve got to give Washington credit. I think that’s a talented football team and a good football team.

More: Penn State-Washington takeaways: Lions put together perfect first half, Tyler Warren shines in big win

“Coach Fisch will do a great job there. But tonight, our guys played exceptionally well, and specifically in the first half. Tyler Warren continues to make plays in a ton of different ways, and I’m proud of him there. Jaylen Reed continues to make plays for us. Abdul Carter continues to make big plays in critical moments. So it was just really cool. And then, the last thing I’d say is that their defense was one of the top passing defenses in the country. I think they were the number two pass defense in the country, and we threw for over 220 yards. They were giving up 142 per game this season. And then obviously we were able to protect the football. I think that’s one of the things that Drew has done a phenomenal job of in the last two years.

“He doesn’t get enough credit for that, but being able to protect the football, make great decisions, and be accurate is impressive. So, I’ve got a list here of about 35 records that Tyler Warren has broken. I’m not going to get into all of them, but he’s a really good football player. I can’t see how this guy doesn’t win the Mackey Award and the Paul Hornung Award. I don’t see how he doesn’t. And they’d be proud of that guy representing their award, because he does everything right both on and off the field. He’s done it that way since the day he stepped on campus. So, he’s just a great example of what a Penn State football player is. So, appreciate you guys again being here.”

You can read everything else Franklin said and watch his comments below.

On his team’s resiliency after losing last week

“Yeah, in our locker room and in the Lasch facility and on our practice fields, we’ve got a ton to be proud of, and we focus on that. We focus on making corrections, and I’m proud of my guys,” Franklin said. “I’m proud of my staff and how we go about our business. We value winning, and if you watch college football all over the country, it’s hard to win on a consistent basis. You see it every single week, upsets and things like that. So, we value winning. We respect winning and what it takes. And we get back to work on Sunday’s, in the Lasch building and on the Lasch practice fields.”

On the status of Penn State running back Nick Singleton

“No, as you guys know, I don’t kind of get into those types of things. You know, you’ll find out when you come out to practice. I don’t have a whole lot more. Typically, I get in there after this, I shower, everybody’s gone. I get done with the shower, and Andy Mutnan is waiting for me, and he goes through how we got out of the game, and what the injuries were. Typically, we don’t have a whole lot of information until the next morning. But as you can imagine, I don’t usually get into sharing that information with you guys.”

On how many players touched the ball on offense

“I think the biggest thing on offense and defense is that we were able to control first down. On offense, we averaged seven yards per play in the first half. Defensively, we were able to stay ahead of the sticks all night long, and that allows you to be in advantageous third down situations. That allows you to push the ball down the field. That allows you to be aggressive on defense to go after the quarterback. So, I think first down was a big factor in that game and how it played out.”

On Abdul Carter’s growth as a player

“He’s a disruptive football player. He was that way when he played linebacker. He’s disruptive when he plays defensive end. I still think there has been an evolution for him there, in terms of playing the run on a consistent basis, rushing the passer on a consistent basis, getting good at his get-off. He’s just getting better. To me, that’s the exciting thing. He’s got a lot of football ahead of him. He finds a ton of different ways to disrupt the game.”

On calling a time out before Ryan Barker’s missed field goal

“Yeah, obviously we’ve got to decide, is it a first down or not? Ninety-nine percent of the time they’ll buzz that down and review it. But they said not only did they do it, but they did it in Chicago that quickly. I haven’t seen that done all year long. So, we end up burning a timeout trying to give up more time to review it. But they already said they had reviewed it. That’s typically why I don’t challenge things, so kind of unusual to me. Usually they’ll buzz it down, stop there and take a second look at a big play in the game. And I obviously shouldn’t have called the time out.”

On the play of the Penn State receivers

“Yeah, it’s great to get those guys involved. We want to do that every single week. It’s really good to see Julian do some things. Trey did some good things today, and we need more of that. We’ll continue to invest in that throughout the week. But I’m really proud of our guys. I thought they played well tonight; I thought Trey’s catch at the sideline was a huge catch. We need those guys, so we’ll continue to invest in that.”

Was Saturday’s first half the Lions’ best of the season?

“Yeah, I’m not sure about that. You guys can determine that. We’ll watch the film tomorrow. I thought we played very well in the first half, like I mentioned, on third down we were seven for seven. I think after seven yards per play on offense and holding them to no points on their opening drive, and the end of the half, how that ended, the stop and the two minute drive, but I’ll let you guys decide if that was the best half we’ve played.”